When Donatella Versace presented her Fall 2025 collection at the Deposito di Baggio tram station in Milan on Friday, February 28, her name was all over the clothes, which 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 for the chorus to “My name is…Versace.”
As the real Donatella tells Us Weekly 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 first-ever male Versace Icon) 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.”
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dazedkorea IG story 현진#HyunjinxVersaceFW25 #Hyunjin_MFW25 #VersaceFW25 pic.twitter.com/KAMpvEStkK
— 쏘미 (@ssomi_SKZlove) February 28, 2025
Seated under individual Versace blankets in place of name cards, they wrapped themselves up in the world of Versace.
The fashion show video teaser showed a platinum-blond dragging a gold fork along a Versace tablecloth, twirling her well-manicured finger around the rim of a Versace teacup and finally crashing face down in Versace Baroque-inspired black and gold sheets.
The collection transformed Versace home furnishings into quilted puffers, bustiers and ballgowns. Case in point: The first model sauntered on the runway in a skintight leather dress, peeking from beneath a luxurious shawl-collar Barocco-print sleeping bag coat with leopard accents. A dress and gown rendered in the same wildly plush and patterned finish followed.
Other standouts included a sharply tailored jumpsuit and a curve-skimming LBD with a neckline that plunged down to the navel — which instantly recalled Jennifer Lopez’s viral jungle-print green dress from the 2000 Grammy Awards that made J.Lo and Versace a household name.
For her part, Donatella made her final bow in a 1992 archival Versace black jacket from her late brother and designer Gianni Versace’s Miss S&M collection, which Christy Turlington 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 late, great artist, as seen on a male model in a sleeveless top made from the metallic chainmail-mesh fabric Gianni first developed in 1982.
The acclaimed “Purple Rain” singer modeled a near-identical version in 1995 when he starred in a Versace campaign photographed by the legendary fashion photographer Richard Avedon. The tribute was a key point in the brand’s history. As Donatella said in a 2018 Vogue interview: “Prince didn’t just influence my work; he epitomized what Versace stands for.”
When she stepped off the runway in her trademark towering leather platform boots, she was surrounded by a trio of models who closed the show in velvet minidresses with dramatic sculptural silk-lined hems with visible ultra-pigmented Baroque style prints. The scene-stealing ballerina silhouettes were made to echo Gianni’s stage costumes from the 1980s.
“I am really proud of this collection,” Versace 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.”
