In a surprise move, Donatella Versace and Kim Jones brought their respective brands together for a blockbuster collaboration with the help of supermodels past and present
The rumours about a possible Versace and Fendi collaboration was the hottest topic at Milan Fashion Week, and last night, it was proven true with a special event.
Donatella Versace teased the event on Versace’s Instagram with a handwritten invitation for an “intimate creative experience” and that it was not something to be missed, and we were suitably intrigued.
Held in the courtyard of the Versace family palazzo on Via Gesu, Fendi’s Kim Jones and Silvia Venturini Fendi “swapped” houses with Versace to design a collection of 50 looks (25 looks for each house) that incorporated archival Versace prints and Fendi icons. Dubbed ‘Fendace’, it was a cheeky nod to collab culture—something that Jones knows very well—and more importantly, it was the first time that Donatella Versace and Silvia Venturini Fendi had designed for another house, so to speak.
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“In February after the ready-to-wear show we came to dinner here with Donatella. Silvia and Donatella got on really well, and we thought it would be nice to have some fun. It was a design-off: we designed Versace and she designed Fendi. Remember these two houses are not in the same group: we’ve just done it as friends, and out of respect for each other. It’s never been planned as a commercial thing,” Jones told Vogue in an interview.
A stellar cast of supermodels past and present helped to showcase this one-off collaboration, including Amber Valetta and Kate Moss, who walked down the runway together, Kristen McMenamy, Shalon Harlow, Karen Elson, Naomi Campbell, as well as Gigi Hadid, Precious Lee, Paloma Elsesser, Adut Akech, Emily Ratajkowski, Vittoria Ceretti, Imaan Hammam and Kate Moss’s daughter Lila Moss Hack.
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