This is from last week at a FYC event (Emmy season is coming!), but I missed it and I can’t not include Cody Fern demonstrating that leopard print makes for a perfect button-down shirt choice. This is how you add sartorial flair to a black suit.
Fern plays David Madson on American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace and was a revelation. Here he looks nothing like his ACS character; the hair wave he is serving up is fantastic.
The character of Donatella Versace makes her entrance – and it is an entrance – near the end of the first episode of The Assassination of Gianni Versace. Clad in her signature spray-on jeans, black roll-neck and double-breasted suit jacket, she is impossibly glamorous, even while grieving.
With Penelope Cruz playing Donatella in Ryan Murphy’s take on the Versace assassination, a follow-up to 2016’s The People v OJ Simpson, the show offers a potted retrospective of the iconic style of the Italian house, and the personal style of the woman at its helm. Cruz’s transformation into Donatella is uncanny – he has the original’s platinum-blonde hair, permanent tan, full lips and dark, smokey eyes – and a wardrobe of classic, covetable vintage Versace (or replica-Versace) pieces.
For a woman who once said, ‘You can be too boring, but you can never be too seductive’, seduction and glamour are in her DNA. Day-to-day looks remain true to the tried-and-tested formula reflected in Cruz’s opening appearance: tight black trousers – which Donatella declares to be ‘essential’ for every woman in her US Vogue 73 questions interview – black boots, a tailored jacket, or shirt, accessorised with an endlessly rotating collection of gold jewellery.
With five of the original supermodels returning to walk the runway in honour of the late designer, the show has already gone down in fashion history. At the centre of the five was the instantly recognisable figure of Ms Versace, dressed in her go-to daytime black with gold accents. Her own style has become as iconic as the gold chainmail sheaths worn by Cindy, Naomi, Carla, Claudia and Helena.
Though the Versace aesthetic has evolved, perhaps matured, during Donatella’s tenure, a flick back through 30+ years of her own looks demonstrate that, save a gradual exaggeration of her physical appearance – slimmer, more platinum, smokier eyes – her personal style has remained virtually unchanged. And, as Donatella, Cruz’s on-screen wardrobe is expertly judged. Daytime wear varies between minimal, streamlined silhouettes and sharply cut tailoring. For evening, she showcases a rotation of sheath dresses. The palette is minimal – mainly black, with a flash of red, metallic, and the occasional Versace print, always accessorised with her signature gold jewellery.
The first three episodes have shown a grieving, business-like Donatella, though future episodes will reveal flashbacks to high-glamour appearances – a particular highlight promises to be the Belt dress worn for Vogue’s 100th anniversary party. For the red carpet, she ups the ante in ultra-slim fit (she is a fan of Alaia’s bodycon designs alongside her own label), corset-cinched waist, sculpted bust, floor-length silhouettes. Sequins/beads/feathers/rhinestones deliver maximum glamour. The Donatella version of her brother’s all-out glamour that plays out on the runway and in the Versace collections, is somehow more feminine – a modern evolution on the 1980s campaigns where supermodels draped themselves over mahogany muscle men. The same can be said of her own style.
In December, Donatella was awarded the Fashion Icon award at the Fashion Awards. She accepted her prize in a gown that seemed to fuse her own style with the aesthetic of the label she has led for the last 20 years. Nipped at the waist, sculpting and cinching of the torso and bust, sleeveless, floor-length, slashed to the thigh, the silhouette was pure Donatella. The all-over print – an instantly-recognisable motif from the Versace archive – perhaps, a tribute to her late brother?
But even if you haven’t followed the limited series, there’s something magical and glamorous about the world of Versacé. It’s a celebrity favorite fashion house (Lady Gaga and J.Lo are huge fans), the clothes are both opulent and gaudy, and it’s just one of those brands that has cultivated a cult following.
While the FX show follows Gianni’s life leading up to his untimely death in 1997, we can’t help but be charmed by the late fashion designer’s sister, Donatella. Penélope Cruz, who plays the fashion mogul, not only draws you in with Donatella’s sense of effortless style, but she makes her presence known.
He’s been knocking it out of the park lately on the style and grooming fronts, which makes this look a slight step down, in our opinion. The suit is nice enough, but more than a little bland. And the head could use a trim all around. He looks like a cult leader.
Edgar Ramirez
Joel Edgerton couldn’t make this suit work either, but at least he was smart enough not to pair it with a DadSweater, Edgar. This is just bad all around. Except for everything north of the neck, that is. That part is just dreamy.
Judith Light
It’s no surprise that Miss Judith is the only one giving us something to look at. A consummate show-woman with an edge. There’s a New Romantic sort of rocker chick vibe that just looks amazing on her. We wish the blouse integrated with the look a little better, though.
Matt Bomer
If he didn’t have Matt Bomer’s face hanging off the front of his head, we’d have assumed some publicist accidentally got his picture taken on the red carpet.
Ricky Martin
The shoes bring a little bit of style to what is otherwise a dull and funereal look.
Gentlemen, you have let us down. Judith, you remain a goddess, dear. We’re bowing.
pearlglamour: Had a blast setting up the display for the American Crime Story Versace season finale event with Guzzi! #costumelife #versace #americancrimestory
boohowie: FYC event for The Assassination Of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story – Screening of the finale, panel, and reception w/ @themillsmethod #acsfx #acsversace#theassassinationofgianniversace #fyc#tvacademy #dgatheater #darrencriss#edgarramirez #rickymartin #judithlight#fxnetwork
The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story Recap: Season 2, Episode 7, “Ascent”
One highlight of this Ryan Murphy-produced take on the criminal drama surrounding the death of famed fashion designer Gianni Versace has been one Ms Penélope Cruz. It’s been a delight to see the Spanish actress intermittently show up as Donatella Versace with her striking platinum hair and outfits to match. In this latest episode, which still mostly centers on Andrew Cunanan’s backstory, we get to see how Gianni’s brush with death has him planning for a day when he won’t be at the helm of the business anymore. He’s encouraged his sister to work closely with him in an upcoming collection though he explodes when he sees she’s not really pushing herself as a designer. Not only were we glad to see Penélope and Édgar Ramírez back at it tenderly sniping at each other as the Versace siblings but seeing the two recreate the infamous bondage dress they showcased at Vogue’s 100th Anniversary Party was just divine. Mostly because Cruz looked amazing strutting her stuff in the leather, belted dress.
Talking to InStyle about the show’s wardrobe and their work with Cruz, costume designer Allison Leach noted how precise the actress wanted to be when it came to playing Donatella. And with the fashion house adamantly uninvolved with the series and actual Versace pieces going for the thousands on eBay, Leach and her fellow designer Lou Eyrich knew they had to get creative. Thankfully, it sounds like Cruz was very involved in the process. “She also really wanted to project the gravitas of the situation, so she did wear a lot of black, which Donatella did,” Leach told InStyle. “So then the silhouette becomes even more important, and the details, like the perfect Versace belt. Those details really sell it. Penélope likes to wear Versace in her own life and has tremendous respect for the brand, so whenever we’d find some gem, she would get so excited and say, ‘Can I keep this?!‘”
As we begin nearing the end of this season of American Crime Story we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to give Ms Cruz and the show’s costume designers their due. With that in mind, we hereby offer a wholly subjective ranking of the many outfits the Oscar-winning actress has donned as Donatella Versace so far in the show. Spoiler alert: she looks stunning in pretty much every single one of them, surprising no one.
7. Down To Business Suit
Even when dressed down to talk business—she wore this when deciding to scrap the idea of making Versace a publicly-traded company, a lifelong dream of Gianni’s—Donatella exudes confidence with the perfect golden flourish. Still, though, compared to everything else Cruz got to wear, this was rather boring.
6. Mourning in Turtleneck
In contrast to the popping colors of Miami, and fitting her grief over her recent loss, this black turtleneck/jacket combo is as understated as Donatella gets. Knowing that she’d need to confront Gianni’s “companion” (played by Ricky Martin), the harsh silhouette and combative fabric (doesn’t get more confrontational than shoulder-padded leather) make sense as she tries to assert herself in her brother’s old home.
5. The Bondage Dress In The Making
Arguably the highlight of this episode (and of the show’s fashion) is seeing how Gianni and Donatella ended up working together to craft the infamous dress that she ended up wearing to the Vogue’s 100th Anniversary Party back in 1993. Using belts as structural accessories? Genius.
4. Work It, In Denim
You start noticing a lot about Cruz’s Donatella when you put her outfits together like this: there’s a simplicity to her style that nevertheless gets its understated elegance from pieces that would otherwise be needlessly garish on anyone else or paired with some other outfit. Take those golden buttons, that bold belt and that bracelet. They’re both too much and just enough at the same time. A perfect outfit for making the rounds of your fashion empire.
3. A Mournful Bride
That is really what she looks like here, no? The veil, the embroidery, the classic and decidedly Italian elegance make Donatella look like she’s a bride in mourning, ready to let out her grief in agonizing wails.
2. That Pink Dress
Listen, if you told us this was a picture of Cruz taken at an awards after-party, we’d be inclined to believe you. Sure, we prefer the Spanish actress in her natural dark brown hair, but she’s been known to wow people on the red carpet time and time again, and this dress (which barely got seen in the actual episode) is a stunner. Fit for a fashion queen.
1. The Pink Jacket
Donatella serving you bubblegum female executive realness in this gorgeous over-the-top jacket is everything. The rolled-up sleeves say “I’m ready for anything” but the jewelry, which includes golden bracelets, earrings, and a coin/pendant necklace truly remind you that Gianni’s sister was (and still is) a fashion icon who’d never be caught dead without the perfect accessories.
ACS news 