Milan Fashion Week: Ich hab noch einen Koffer in Berlin

Until the turn of the century, the Berlin skyline was a jumble of cranes. For the prior decade, the cranes had been a symbol of the city's rebirth and reunification--die neue Berlin-- after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.

This was not the first time Berlin had experienced a resurfacing. At one time the intended seat of Hitler's Germania, the city that was once noted for its Bauhaus and medieval architecture became a structural testament to the intended Thousand Year Reich. At war's end, the city was in rubble and what was left of it bore the stamp of its reprobate modern history.

By 2000, much of the new construction was completed. As international architects left their stamp on areas once vacant or historically questionable, Berlin acquired a polyglot postmodernism perhaps best expressed by Daniel Libeskind's design for the Jüdisches Museum. Other areas of transformation included the Potsdamer Platz and Stresemannstraße.

Berlin is where Donatella Versace found inspiration for her Winter 2009 collection. While visiting the city, she was struck by its newfound confidence. The new Berlin was swathed in visually arresting shapes and colors suggestive of strong forward movement. The use of bright hues and unexpected silhouettes created a fullness of energy and attitude that Versace quickly translated into a series of silk dresses printed with active cityscapes.

These were not just any dresses. They were reminders of the signature print scarf, long one of Versace's totems. The scarves had formerly been cacophonous to the point where they were nearly audible. Transformed into simple apron dresses, they carried bustling scenes based on the photogenic variety of Berlin.

There was not a Medusa head in sight, or, for that matter, much hangover Versace miscellany.

Much like Roberto Cavalli, Donatella Versace's last gasp at fashion debauchery occurred in 2004. This was the final year of design gluttony for both, and subsequently each embarked on the process of streamlining their labels to accommodate a shifting consumer power structure.

While Cavalli continues to have trouble rehabilitating his Cavalli woman into cutting-edge pertinence, following her own stint in rehab Versace has had an easier time. Unlike Cavalli, who has taken a sauve qui peut approach, Versace has almost abandoned the hyperventilated binge that once detailed the label as gaudy Euro-chic.

For the Winter 2009 collection, the designer continues to work with the important 360° silhouette. Gowns and dresses that appeared spare in the front had distinct eye appeal in the back, with flowing cape-like panels giving a sense of airiness and flight.

The highlight of the collection was a pink-toned beige gown whose curvaceously draped panels appeared to unfurl like the petals of a rose. Thirteen additional gowns had varied degrees of success; when the designer reverted to vestigial habits in one dress it seemed out of place among the more belletristic pieces.

Daywear didn't benefit as much from the trip to Berlin, leaving one wondering if Versace's impressions of the city had been no more intellectual than snapshots. Trousers grabbed and pouched at the crotch and long button-down sweaters belted over shifts looked banal. Certain coats and short dresses had muʻumuʻu sleeves that looked fresh in some instances and gauche in a pink fur number that looked more like a housecoat than it did an exciting piece of outerwear. Or perhaps it was a dress.

That item proved how hard it is to exorcise the past and also decries the necessity of doing so in the first place. Much like Berlin, the question of whether to topple cultural monuments for the sake of a clean slate introduces a challenging and energizing dialogue.

"I always keep a suitcase in Berlin," Marlene Dietrich once said, and perhaps Donatella should as well.

Images: Style.it