Versus Versace by J.W. Anderson Resort 2014

It's arguably one of the most iconic Versace images: a naked, hands-on-hips Kristen McMenamy, photographed by Juergen Teller (in 1996). A cigarette resting on her lips; VERSACE scrawled in black across her breasts, outlined by a thick red lipstick heart. It's 90s Versace personified: strong, defiant and sexy. Almost two decades later, J.W. Anderson presents his own interepretation of Versace, as the new designer of Versus. In the same vein as the iconic Teller shot, Anderson offered up his own take on 'body branding', with monochrome stickers bearing VERSUS being plastered across the models' bare upper bodies.

"In the same vein as the iconic Teller shot, Anderson offered up his own take on 'body branding'"

The nineties was a key theme in Anderson's Versus collection. There was certainly a nod to the aesthetic of 90s rave kids with slashed cropped tops, PVC trousers, hair piled high. Anderson incorporated both asymmetric and symmetrical details in his designs. Asymmetric slashes on vests reminiscent of punk looks, and symmetry akin to that aforementioned rave look (think of the club kids with their mini backpacks and bunched hair).

At the launch of the collection, which featured liver performances from Maxwe1l, Grimes and Angel Haze, Donatella Versace noted that Anderson, a designer renowned for his androgynous designs, had remained loyal to the Versace codes. For the first time, Anderson worked with sexier, womanly shapes. He used the safety pin, sparingly for shoulder fastening and in abundance for a skirt overlay, reminding us that the pin has always been key to the house's archive. How can we ever forget Elizabeth Hurley in her slashed Versace dress in 1996?

Laura Bradley is the Commissioning Editor of AnOther and published her first series of Fashion Equations in May 2008. Tom Baxter is an illustrator currently living and working in London.