The New Versace Campaign Bewitched Me, ‘Suspiria’-Style
In the midst of dreary December comes some joie de vivre courtesy of Donatella Versace’s Instagram.
Photograph by Steven Meisel.
There are plenty of negative aspects to the fashion industry, from serious issues like the sexual harassment of models to minor annoyances like that Moncler x Pierpaolo Piccioli puffer coat you had your eye on selling out just when you’d scraped together the requisite $4,135. Working on a fashion shoot may sound like the ne plus ultra of glamour, but in reality, it’s a lot of waiting around, fetching lukewarm coffee, packing and unpacking clothes, and never, ever letting Inez & Vinoodh go to voicemail.
Enter a glorious Instagram from Donatella Versace, which shows model Shalom Harlow on set for the house’s Spring 2019 campaign, windblown in a wide-legged, ruffled jumpsuit. Just when you think it’s going to be yet another video snippet of a model looking simultaneously pouty and unbothered under studio lights, she breaks into a series of supremely mom-like, deliciously corny dance moves that can only be compared to the viral YouTube video “Pantz.”
Vociferous shouts of approval fill the air as Shalom dances to the strains of Tom Tom Club’s “Wordy Rappinghood,” and my eyelids grow heavy as I watch the Versace ruffles swirl. I begin rhythmically slapping my thigh to the beat, never taking my eyes off my laptop screen.
Donatella and Shalom have bewitched me, Suspiria-style, and I am now a fully indoctrinated member of the Cult of Versace. Donatella is my mother now, and I am her loyal progeny. Does anyone have a lock of her signature flaxen hair for me to do a spell with?
