Versace couture show with Bella Hadid is a love letter to the female body as Bradley Cooper joins Naomi Campbell front row

The bespoke line is becoming an increasingly popular choice for Hollywood a-listers
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Karen Dacre4 July 2016

Forty years on and it seems Donatella Versace has grown tired of the plunging necklines and hip-skimming side splits on which she forged her career. At least she's ready to take a break from them with silhouette, not skin, her prevailing source of inspiration.

Unveiling her latest haute couture collection in Paris last night, the designer came over all ladylike at a showcase which featured Bella Hadid and was watched by Naomi Campbell.

It all began with a coat. Modelled by supermodel Karen Elson and belted tightly at the waist, the double-faced cashmere creation was presented over a striking red cocktail dress cut to fall seductively off the shoulder.

One part Joan from Mad Men another modern day party girl, this new protagonist was a grown up incarnation who chose mid-length gowns which were draped to the body in place of Versace’s flesh flashing stretchy creations that have come to define her high end atelier collections.

Pascal Le Segretain/Getty

Peekaboo panels and a diamante trims - commonplace in the Italian’s collections- were replaced by a new focus on drapery. Swathes of coarse satin, arranged to create the effect of waves on neatly tailored cocktail, dresses enhanced the idea that this showcase was a love letter to the female body.

One striking calf-length gown cut with long sleeves and a modestly high neck-line was among the show’s finest pieces.

Patrick Kovarik/AFP/Getty

Versace’s bespoke atelier line is becoming an increasingly popular choice for Hollywood a-listers faced with the task of dressing for the red carpet - this showcase was a celebration of that as Versace sought to prove herself as a designer who could deal in classical glamour as well as the in your face kind.

Shoulder sweeping gowns with in eau de nil and dramatic black are sure to please the likes of Julianne Moore and Jennifer Aniston who are regularly photographed in the label.

Versace also seemed keen to speak to the typical metropolitan woman - albeit an affluent one. While couture shows were once solely about show stopping gowns, a the contemporary couture client demands more than just dresses.

To this end, the coat was the accidental star of this show. Beautifully tailored and worn draped off the shoulder, this was outerwear for the super-rich which took its influence from the way 21st Century women like to dress - the great pity is that there only a few with the bank busting cash required to pay for it.

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