Versus - Spring/Summer 2011

A far cry from the Versace show and its sexy aluminum catwalk, Versus (the Italian label's second line) presented its collection created by Christopher Kane on models pacing around a children's playground. The perfectly reproduced playground and its suspicious absence of children set a tone that was much less well-behaved than might have been expected for the show.

The Versus show opened on a young woman whose plaid ensemble recalled a strict schoolteacher. However, it did not take long for Christopher Kane and Donatella Versace - who have been working together for the last three seasons - to inject their wardrobe with that famous dose of sought-after, girly sex appeal for which the English designer is so well known.

Between the dresses (similar in shape to those that were so successful for the label last summer), the micro kilt (accompanied by a becoming leather jacket with plaid sleeves) and mid-calf sheath dresses, the clothes gave a sensual and innovative look to the different tartans.

This was followed by traditional plaids mixed with a fistful of floral graphics, one of the headlining trends of the season.

Oscillating between neo-sari and preppy, this mix and match of prints produced ensembles fitting into l'air du temps, whose originality and wear-ability seem to have been be particularly well developed.

Over the successive entrances, the liberty print ended up cannibalizing the plaids, however, composing flowery, refined puzzles; flowers took over as the main theme of the collection.

This being said, far from going overboard with the nicely commercial and risk-free scent emanating from the armloads of flowers, Kane intensified his propos by associating them with vertical stripes (whose charm is debatable) or with color block fabric panels.

The stripes and color blocks ended up taking over, producing looks that were much more geometric than bucolic -- looks that the Versace and Christopher Kane label fans will probably snatch up.

Under the impulse of the collaboration between a young designer and a particularly seductive high-end house, Versus offers a joyful, slightly conceptual and very promising collection for the summer season, and Versace's second line seems to have everything it takes to become a main player.

Click here to view the entire collection: http://www.style.com/S2011RTW-VERSUS