Ever wonder what Donatella Versace & Christopher Kane’s love child would look like? If you’re curious, look no further than the Versus Spring 2011 collection. Though it’s Versace’s second fiddle brand, some people are saying that the line – designed by British fashion star Christopher Kane – is outshining the main Versace line itself. It’s a pretty mighty assertion, and one I don’t altogether agree with, but it seems to be giving the little collection a set of sturdy legs. From what I can tell it seems like a true collaborative effort, and Donatella’s fondness of Kane speaks to that as well. She says that he “reminds her of her late brother, and could someday be in the running to design that exalted primary brand,” reports The Wall Street Journal.

“I never thought I’d find anybody I could trust like I trust Christopher,” Donatells told W magazine. “And now it’s so strange. I start to say a sentence and he (would) finish it – just like me and Gianni.”

An official statement from Christopher Kane on the Versus Spring 2011 that recently showed in Milan, followed by hi-res photos:

For this Versus SS11 collection I played with combining floral, tartan stripe prints from the Versus archive, to achieve twisted and drape mesh dresses. The colour palette is very bright and optimistic (yellow, green, purple, orange, red and blue). I have worked printed mesh into longer, leaner dresses, and knitwear for a more casual sporty/grungy approach. The core of the collection is multi drape stretch mesh dresses using layers of printed mesh. Short comes in multicoloured pop dresses. Shoes and bags feature print and brogue details.

This season’s Versace collection for women is all about a playful game of proportions and opposites: short vs. long, high vs. low, plain vs. patterned, dull vs. bright, and fabric vs. flesh.

High waisted skirts cut over the knee are combined with extremely short jackets that finish under the breast. The result: a look where a line of skin is visible between the skirt and the jacket, and where shoulders are rounded to give them a fresh emphasis.

Indeed, the shoulder achieves a new prominence within the collection and in many pieces is revealed, and framed, attaining the status of a new erogenous zone. This is often achieved through the use of decorative back-belts (martingales), which feature throughout the collection. These martingales, with decorative buttons, join, embroider and shape the padded shoulders of dresses and tops, breaking up the expanse of nude back and gently and elegantly referencing fetishistic straps.

The martingales, which also decorate high waisted skirts and the sides of dresses, are realized in contrasting materials – varnished and patent against non-shiny fabrics. And in our game of opposites, the idea of contrast is key. Many dresses feature inlays in PVC that break up the lines of the silhouette, making it look more sinuous and adding the impression of motion. Solid colours too – whites, red, splashes of turquoise, and blacks – are interrupted not only by revealed areas of flesh seen through PVC inlays or sculpted shapes cut into fabric, but also by prints, which appear in the splits of skirts and on fringes.

The basis of many of these prints is the Versace Greek fret motif, which is here used not as a logo device, but as a decorative pattern. The free and easy use of this graphic device, usually so rigid and geometric in its application, adds a sense of fluidity to the prints, with their playful use of colours.

L to R: Versace, Rachel Roy, Burberry, Tahari, Just Cavalli

Next year expect the inkling of pastels seen on the 2009 runways to pick up steam. That is, if the handful of designers with the wherewithall to produce the superfluous “pre-fall” collection is any indication of what we’ll see on a broader scale. On the one hand, Donatella turned out her usual skintight minis in jelly bean hues (and in latex, no less (eep)), while the more down to earth Rachel Roy created soft, roomy frocks in a palette that could make even the most hardened cynic feel fresh and girly.

Rachel Roy was a standout favorite. See my picks below:

Frankly, I really don’t understand this pseudo season. Is it just that heavy-hitters (and sartorial climbers) want to show-off that they can produce yet another collection during these dismal economic times? From the looks of it, we can expect the non-season to become as crowded as the once very selective cruise collections.

While most pre-fall presentations has a modest 6 to 10ish pieces to show. Burberry went way ABCD with a collection of over 40 pieces plus menswear. As usual, the house presented an assortment of trenches in the wildest varieties. And dig the Emma Thompson lookalike model. The should have just put the actress on stilts and booked her instead.

See more pre-fall, including looks from M Missoni, Moschino Cheap & Chic, DKNY and more from Tahari, Versace, and Burberry
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photos: WWD.com