The adoration that Donatella herself inspires is quite unlike that of any other designer – the blonde bombshell is atop her own podium in the hearts of many show-goers, an icon for her fabulous glamour, resilience, humour and total don't-give-a-fuck devotion to expressing herself. When she takes a bow at the end it's like the show is beginning all over again – or that the clothes were just the warm-up.

Today, back in the via Gesù mansion where Gianni Versace lived and did all his fashion shows, the designer sent out a slashed lingerie collection of crumpled silk with graphic lace and gladiator stilettos, flashing the flesh and skimming thighs from start to finish.

A real stomper of a show – her girls pound the runway like no other – the final section riffed on the type of Glamazon dresses the brand is synonymous with, a ready-to-wear version of those offered in AW12's Atelier Versace haute couture line-up, in clouded, mottled pastels with gilded waists as The Kill's Alison Mosshart growled "Thunder only happens when it's raining..." on the soundtrack.

Photography Piotr Niepsuj