The format chosen to present this collection focused on privacy and discretion. The starting point for the Atelier Versace Fall 2017 Haute Couture collection was Donatella Versace’s very medieval Fall 1998 and the terrific accompanying campaign shot by Steven Meisel, a brooding dark masterpiece.

Versace’s update resulted in major, major evening—a bravura performance of high octane, super sexy, and exquisitely and inventively worked looks, all bronze metallic scale embroideries, silver chains suspended in cobweb-like formations, and an embellishment that looked like crystal but which was actually beads faced with silver leaf.

Not that everything was entirely hand-crafted. A few looks featured the first time the house had tried 3D printing—an intricate scrolling neckline of a long gilded dress, and two snake-motif jeweled belts that encircled the waists of two dresses, one short and a miracle of sculpted pleats, the other an ultra-chic navy chiffon floor-length dress veiling a gleaming chainmail body.