MILAN - Even flamboyant Versace offered a wearable, casual menswear collection at Milan's fashion week today, a far cry from the loud colours and super-sexy style that made it a celebrity favourite.
Versace's spring-summer 2007 men's show included several female models in silvery mini-dresses, smuggling women's handbags into the display-- a major money factor for the house as it expands its highly profitable accessories line.
"Life has changed for men and women. There's not that much to celebrate, it's not all about partying anymore, there's a lot more work," Donatella Versace said after the show, fittingly held at Milan's stock exchange.
"So there's sensuality but it's also important that the pieces can be worn from morning to afternoon to evening," she added.
Versace knows what she is talking about.
Her fashion group slid into deep losses after her brother was murdered in the 1990s, and Versace is fighting through a turnaround plan that includes asset sales and a focus on the core luxury business.
"We've tried to eliminate the machismo of the old Versace man," Versace said.
The result was soft, swinging jackets and loose trousers, extra large Bermuda shorts and blousons in pastel shades that were broken by occasional bursts of yellow, orange and acid green in the form of casual V-neck tops.
A similar palette coloured Alexander McQueen's show earlier today, held in an old gallery overlooking a courtyard at the science museum.
Straw hats with transparent veils, a feather detail on a lapel and a butterfly-print tank top added a certain femininity to his collection that might require some courage from a traditional male buyer.
But razor-sharp suits in washed blues and greens, dusty blue jackets and baggy trousers could have been sold straight from the catwalk without any need to be toned down for the shops -- good sales news for Alexander McQueen's owner, French retail giant PPR.
Some of the models clutched men's handbags, suggesting that Alexander McQueen was also keeping an eye on accessories.
Buyers have praised the Milan collections, including Dolce & Gabbana and Jil Sander yesterday, for their sellability, and several said they had noticed a more commercial attitude by the designers.
