Versace

Atelier Versace vinyl and PVC couture, Autumn/Winter 1995 Couture usually means silk and hand embroidery; Gianni sent out plastic. The Atelier Versace season showed single-color dresses sliced with Perspex, including a form-hugging vinyl dress worn by Karen Mulder under a clear PVC layer shaped like a ballgown. The red suit pictured, with its clear vinyl yoke, comes from the same season. It is the clearest proof that his house couture line, launched in 1989, was a lab for ideas as much as a showcase for craft, and it still looks futuristic three decades on.