What happened when Versus took London

Last night, Donatella Versace arrived at London Fashion Week. With her, she brought her signature Italian glamour, a high-voltage SS17 collection for Versus, an A-list model cast and an even more A-list front row. Here’s your three-point guide to last night’s events.

ZIGI ATTENDED, CAUSED A MELTDOWN

About five minutes before the show, lights started flashing at an alarming rate. You’d have been forgiven for thinking Donatella had turned on some strobe lights but no, it was the paparazzi descending like vultures (not that the paps were like vultures per se, just that their descending was) onto pop culture’s tween power couple: Zayn Malik and Gigi Hadid who had just taken their seats on the front row.

BELLA HADID OPENED THE SHOW

After an electrifying and slightly ‘Derelicte’-esque video, the show began. First to stride down the runway was another Hadid – Bella – donning quite a kinky all-leather ensemble. She was followed by a troupe of fellow catwalk queens that included Dazed cover stars Yasmin Wijnaldum and Lineisy Montero, Gurls Talk founder Adwoa Aboah and Mica Arganaraz, who closed the show in a metallic mini dress.

THE COLLECTION WAS DESIGNED BY DONATELLA

Up until recently, Belgian-Italian designer and Donatella protégé Anthony Vaccarello has been designing the Versus collections. But, as those of you who have been paying close attention to the fashion news section of this website will know, he’s now got Hedi’s old gig at Saint Laurent. So Donatella is back designing the collections with an in-house team – and this was the first one. It had all of her signatures: tight frocks and short skirts, paired with Versus’ rebellious “bad girl” vibe.