When Donatella Versace presented her Fall 2025 show at the Deposito di Baggio tram station in Milan on Friday, February 28, her name was all over a collection that read like a love letter to the Italian fashion house.
Fittingly, a remix of Eminem‘s 1999 debut, Grammy-winning single “My Name Is” blared over the speakers at the top of the show, with remixed lyrics that reverberated “My name is…Versace.”
As the real Donatella tells Luxury Handbag Shopping exclusively: “This was a truly emotional collection for me. It was all of the best of Versace. Our codes, our power, our DNA! It was a collection for Versace fans around the world. Bold, fierce, unapologetic.”
Sitting in the front row were boldfaced names, including Oppenheimer actor (and debut men’s talent of Versace Icons) Cillian Murphy, Versace supermodel Taylor Hill and Global Brand Ambassador Hyunjin, the lead singer of K-pop band Stray Kids, who Donatella calls the “Versace Prince.”
Seated under Versace blankets in place of name cards, they wrapped themselves up in the world of Versace. (The luxurious wool throws are available for purchase, so everyone can share in the fashion show experience.)
dazedkorea IG story 현진#HyunjinxVersaceFW25 #Hyunjin_MFW25 #VersaceFW25 pic.twitter.com/KAMpvEStkK
— 쏘미 (@ssomi_SKZlove) February 28, 2025
The live stream video teaser, directed by Tommy Malekoff and shared via Instagram, focused on the house of Versace, literally. In the clip, a platinum blonde drags a Medusa fork along a Barocco tablecloth, traces her well-manicured finger around the rim of a Versace teacup and crashes face-down into Versace’s Baroque bedding.
Gianna’s own residences were also a touchstone in the collection. As such, Donatella opened the show with looks constructed from Versace Replica Luxury Handbag duvets printed in house motifs. A shawl-collar quilted puffer coat was followed by a bustier party dress and a couture-worthy ballgown artfully molded into playful buoyant shapes.
Offset shoulders from Gianni’s final 1997 Versace Atelier haute couture show was another code she touched upon. They accentuated all-black looks with navel-grazing deep-V necklines, which instantly recalled Jennifer Lopez’s viral jungle-print green chiffon Grammy Awards dress that made J.Lo and Versace a household name.
For her part, Donatella made her final bow in a Versace black jacket from her late brother and designer Gianni Versace’s Fall 1992 Miss S&M collection, which supermodel Carla Bruni wore on the runway at the time.
She waved and did a 360 twirl to graciously show her gratitude for the standing ovation — all the better to show off the gleaming gold buckles from every angle. “I am wearing a diamond-and-gold cross ring given to me by Prince for luck and a jacket designed by my brother Gianni, so I have him close to me,” she tells Us.
Prince gifted the ring to the designer before his death in 2016.
There was also another homage to the High Priest of Pop, as modeled by Romeo Beckham, who wore a sleeveless shirt patchworked with upcycled Oroton chainmail, a fabric Gianni famously first developed in 1982.
The “Purple Rain” singer wore a near-identical version as the star of a 1995 Versace campaign photographed by the late Richard Avedon. The tribute honored an instrumental figure in the designer’s history. As she later said in a 2018 Vogue interview: “Prince didn’t just influence my work; he epitomized what Versace stands for.”
The designer’s vision for Fall 2025 also affirmed the house’s eternal ethos. A standout was a metallic dress woven from unraveling thread, which was a reimagined look from Donatella’s very first show, fall 1998 couture.
When she stepped off the runway in her trademark towering platforms, she was joined by models who closed the show in velvet dresses with dramatic crinoline hems sculpted to reveal the silk lining with more Baroque prints. The scene-stealing ballerina silhouettes were made to echo Gianni’s stage costumes from the 1980s.
“I am really proud of this collection,” Donatella tells Us. “My team worked so hard to make something super special and memorable.” The designer continued: “For me, this is creativity at its best. Free and unfiltered.”
