Eight year wait over as Versace make a triumphant return to Paris Haute Couture.
Those luxury brands who are sticking to their guns and doing what luxury is meant to do - coddle, mollify and reassure the insulated super-rich - are thriving . "The world needs glamour," added Versace, "and I missed couture".
And she's well placed to provide it; just 15 looks, but each a corseted, beaded, embroidered, sculpted monument to what Versace called "glamorous warriors," although with her accent, it sounded at first as though she'd done a brief for glamorous lawyers.
In many ways it was classic, well trodden Versace territory, but the limited colour palatte - steel grey, fizzing sulphurous lemon, tangerine and one solitary bustier dress in gold leather that was laser cut into delicate lace tracery and worn by a fierce looking Arizona Muse - made it look tough and modern. Perspex panniers on the orange dress brought to mind Christopher Kane - no bad thing.
But did i say modern? Only up to a point. Tightly bound and shod in the highest, spikiest, backless gaiter-boots, the models were very movement-challenged, especially when it came to marching down that photogentic flight of gold metal stairs. By the end they'd evolved a sideways crab-step of dubious elegance. But come Oscars - and that's surely where these are heading - these dresses just have to look good straight on. Job done.
