Donatella’s Diffusion Line

In the wake of a plethora of infinitely successful high end collaborations with designers from Karl Lagerfeld to Lanvin over the past decade, H&M have managed to bridge the gap between ultra elite fashion house and budget high street shopping. The latest incarnation of this model comes in the guise of a collection from Versace, which head honcho Donatella is marketing as the very ‘essence’ of the Italian power label. An inspection of the collection (available to view in its entirety at Vogue.com) reveals this to be true to an extent- overly garish prints, tight-as-you-like dresses and a disproportionate amount of inspiration drawn from the animal kingdom. True Versace, however, is at least always executed in the finest of fabrics and crafted with the upmost attention to detail. Sadly, these designs are an amalgamation of all that is (in my opinion) wrong with the company and the synthetic materials which so often render a gorgeous H&M item distinctly cheap looking. A few gems can be found in amongst the debris (such as the black silk cap sleeve dress, £79.99), though, regrettably, the vast majority of these pieces will inevitably be picked up by those who value a label over genuine style.