Christina Aguilera inspires Versace

Donatella Versace ended Milan's fashion week with clingy miniskirts and block-print leggings inspired by front-row guest and the label's new star, U.S. pop pin-up Christina Aguilera. Donatella showed both the younger, diffusion label Versus and the top-line Versace collection back to back, with hair back-combed and big in the first and sleek and stylish in the second.

"There are so many things I love about Donatella and her clothing. I think it is strong, its sexy, empowering and she's a powerful woman in the industry and I respect that," the 22-year-old Christina Aguilera told Reuters before Versace showed her autumn/winter 2003/4 collection. Aguilera, her platinum hair ringleted and loose and wearing a dark pink Versace dress, sat quietly as models strutted round the pod-shaped catwalk, turning once in a while to whisper to a friend.

Joining the fashion fest's fever for all things mini and clingy, teeny skirts and drainpipe trousers in creams and caramels were matched with crocodile-skin spikes and zips and tassels on anything that could take their weight. Colour was kept to a minimum at Versace, a surprise at the house known for its head-turning brights, but it did not skimp on the revealing cuts red-carpet regulars love it for.

The 1980s time-warp came on more strongly in the Versus line, which was choc-full of bright turquoise blues and mustard golds chopped up into bold prints on leggings, skinny mini-dresses, furs and towering stilettos. But despite the mini-dresses, the stars, the strobes and the army of supermodels, applause was sparse and the audience was largely unenthusiastic.