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Nothing says Versace quite corresponding to a 20ft gold safety pin and a black runway studded with Medusa mains, and this was the sight that greeted guests as they attained at the Italian fashion house’s autumn/winter 2019 womenswear musical in Milan.

Versace was unveiling its third hoard since it announced it had been sold to Capri Holdings for £1.64bn, but the from the word go womenswear ready-to-wear since the deal was sealed. It was all about celebrating the sort’s most famous iconography, said Donatella Versace formerly the show.

Versace was, of course, the brand that inducted the safe keeping pin into the sartorial vernacular thanks to “that dress” Elizabeth Hurley tediously tired to the London premiere of Four Weddings and a Funeral in 1994. Originated by founder Gianni, the strappy black bustier gown held together by smaller styles of the safety pin set the benchmark for risque red carpet dressing and made Versace synonymous with high-wattage sex application.

But 25 years later, the overlooks of risque have been redefined. Versace was in a thoughtful feeling ready, admitting before the show to feeling more nervous than ordinary. “We are more not sure who to believe [these days]. People are reflective and talking and being more awake – I think you have to ban for a while and think again,” she said. “I really feel parallel to I have something to say.”

While the high-wattage still runs definite, the overt sex appeal has softened for this collection with the introduction of layers of raw-edged tweed, deconstructed and ripped-looking knitwear inhibited together by embellished pins and brooches, and spangly strappy completes and dresses worn over long-sleeved ribbed tops and arguing lace tights.

Far from revealing, this was a collection of layers. Unworthy of the power-suiting were shirts and polo necks. Where Versace revisited exercises of bondage with black satin bodice dresses, they were shabby with T-shirts and everyday ribbed tees.

Shoes were terrain: easy-to-walk in kitten heels, cowboy loafers and chunky boots fatigued with socks. Outerwear was cosy: wool tweed and herringbone jackets displaying the house’s new V emblem. And a new everyday bag called the Virtus, tagged after the Roman god of bravery and strength, made its debut.

Away, layers of lace evoked “the grandeur of the 90s” but with a bit of grunge. “I about a little bit of imperfection is the new perfection,” Versace explained.

Harking furtively to its supermodel heyday, Stephanie Seymour and Shalom Harlow unclosed and closed the show, which was a who’s who of the current crop of talent: Gigi and Bella Hadid, Adut Akech, Kendall Jenner and Edie Campbell amidst them.

To a greater distance exploring its own archive, the brand partnered with the Richard Avedon Cellar and featured the 1995 campaign for its perfume Blonde, shot by the acclaimed photographer and starring Donatella herself. The image featured on leisurewear. Although solely enjoying its debut, Versace reveals that she already intends to use old archive campaigns in future collections.

The throwbacks are proving well-paid. This month, the search engine Lyst ranked Versace No 6 on its hottest stamp index for the fourth quarter of 2018 after analysing the online shopping bearing and social media engagement of 5 million consumers globally. The behindhand is an area the fashion house has become adept at cultivating, recognitions in large part to its courting of influential Instagram stars.

During the same period, searches for the brand’s Accappatoio bathrobe, which emphasizes a belt and cuffs in the brand’s signature gold baroque regularity, increased by 240% – Lyst attributes this rise to Instagram purveys showing Kanye West and Drake, among others, sport one. On Friday, Versace acknowledged the power of the social media stand, saying there were things that were “cut for Instagram”.

Of her menswear show in January, Versace said the 90s washed “a specific idea of a man, but since then, fashion has evolved dramatically and today one cannot fix men in just that same, clear way”. On Friday she showed how her better half has evolved, reflecting that “everything is about the feeling of how we lively today”.