The original supers: Naomi, Cindy, Claudia, Helena take to Versace runway in tribute to Gianni

2-MIN READ2-MIN

Italian designer Donatella Versace (third from left) with former top models (L-R) Carla Bruni, Claudia Schiffer, Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford and Helena Christensen at the end of the Versace show at Milan Fashion Week. Photo: Reuters

Published: 3:01pm, 23 Sep 2017Updated: 3:01pm, 23 Sep 2017

Almost a generation has grown up since Gianni Versace’s designs last paraded the catwalk in July 1997. A week later the 50-year-old designer was murdered on the steps of his Miami mansion.

On the Versace runway at Milan Fashion Week, it was a step back into the supermodel era that Gianni created, with a closing tableau of silver siren-dressed supers including Naomi Campbell (47), Claudia Schiffer (47), Cindy Crawford (51), Helena Christensen (48) and Carla Bruni (49), alongside an emotional Donatella Versace. This jaw-dropping finale has been the biggest thing so far this season of fashion week.

20 years after her brother’s murder, @donatella_versace produced a Tribute collection, an ode to the work of her brother, #GianniVersace. The collection, which debuted in Milan today, was “Versace past through the eyes of Versace present,” @nytimesfashion critic Vanessa Friedman writes. And then, to top the show off, @donatella_versace invited some of her brother’s favorite models, the ones who had been most associated with his glamazon ideal — @cindycrawford, @claudiaschiffer, @helenachristensen, @iamnaomicampbell and @carlabruniofficial (or Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, as she is now) — to create a finale tableau for the show that mimicked a 1994 ad campaign shot by #RichardAvedon of many of the same models in gowns of gold chain mail. “In the original they were draped over or dominating the prone figures of naked men,” Vanessa writes, but @donatella_versace skipped that part of the re-creation. “It’s 2017, after all,” she added. @elizabethcpaton, a reporter for @nytimesfashion, filmed this video at today’s #Versace show during #MilanFashionWeek. Visit the link in our profile to read more about how #DonatellaVersace is celebrating her past and confronting her future.

A post shared by The New York Times (@nytimes) on Sep 22, 2017 at 2:19pm PDT

Former top models (L-R) Carla Bruni , Claudia Schiffer, Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford and Helena Christensen display iconic creations of the late Italian designer Gianni Versace during the Versace show at Milan Fashion Week. Photo: Reuters

Before that the social media fashion stars of today: the Hadid sisters, Kendall Jenner and Kaia Gerber modelled a nostalgic parade of Gianni’s greatest hits, such as the gilded baroque scarf print shirts, the starfish, butterfly and animal prints on pleated mini skirts, leggings and bomber jackets; the gold studded black leather jackets and sexily strapped and gilded evening gowns.

Kaia Gerber (second left) and other models display Versace creations during Milan Fashion Week. Photo: EPA-EFE

For 20 years Donatella Versace has helmed the fashion house founded by her brother, continuing the legacy and also honing her own fashion voice, but she believed this was a time to set that aside. So for Spring Summer 2018, as the house approaches its 40th anniversary, was the moment to pay tribute to Gianni, as the soundtrack related “This is a celebration of a genius. This is a celebration of an icon. This is a celebration of my brother.”