Initial reaction:

Curves, curves, curves. Donatella Versace’s new Atelier collection sought to highlight and enhance a woman’s body, using construction techniques that made it look like the tailored dresses were literally painted onto the skin. Using both nude mesh and bare flesh, Donatella drew sweeping curved lines and scrolls all over the body, in impressive feats of pattern cutting. Exaggerated flare suits, dresses with skater skirts and sculpted metal jewellery clinging to the neck – all accentuate Donatella’s fixation with the curved line. To a banging mix of Depeche Mode’s “Enjoy the Silence” and Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance with Somebody”, these dresses threw their weight around in the bolshiest of primary colours. “Couture is like a laboratory, where you can explore ideas and clash materials with complete creative freedom. Experimentation and elegance are what couture means in the 21st century.” said Donatella in the press release. The laboratory did good.

Super super:

All these dynamic curves called for dynamic women, so it was no surprise to see Eva Herzigová, Natasha Poly and Amber Valletta return to the runway to rep for Donatella. They took on the end passage of dresses – where there were more flesh and curves on show that actual fabric holding it all together.

Emoji alert:

The garments may have been high octane glamour made for the very serious business of red carpet dressing, but that doesn’t mean that Donatella didn’t get to inject some fun into it with her own positive set of emojis, embroidered with crystals and embossed onto dresses and boots. The Versace language is evident in the cut and the attitude, but it’s interesting to see 21st century code worked in this way.

The soundtrack to Atelier Versace Haute Couture AW15: