Who else but Donatella Versace could orchestrate Claudia Schiffer’s return to the runway? When Schiffer strutted down the runway tonight at Versace’s spring 2024 show in Milan, it marked the German supermodel’s first time on the catwalk since she closed the brand’s spring 2018 collection alongside Carla Bruni, Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, and Helena Christensen. (When she’s not on the runway, Schiffer is keeping busy as an executive producer; her film Argylle with Henry Cavill, John Cena, and Samuel L. Jackson is due out in February.)
Schiffer marked the milestone with an appropriately glamorous look: a checkerboard mint green and silver metal mesh column dress embellished with crystal beads, and finished with silver Gianni ribbon pumps. “It’s basically molded onto my body. It fits me like a glove,” she says. While a momentous occasion, Schiffer isn’t feeling much pre-show pressure. “I always stay really healthy. I do work out, and make sure I get a good night’s rest,” she tells Vogue shortly before heading to the show. “Other than that, I’m just myself.”
Part of her comfort level comes from her decades-long friendship with Donatella, whom she’s counted as a close friend for over 30 years. “Donatella is just a wonderful, warm-hearted, gentle, genuine, nice person who really does care,” Schiffer says. “It’s like you’re coming into a warm hug of the Versace family. I always really look forward to it. It’s just more than just a fashion show and ad campaign. It’s much more than that.”
In preparation for the show, Schiffer dug through her archive of Versace clothing. “My favorite ones are in the metallic, light blue, light pink, gold collection. It’s mini skirts with little sweaters and high knee boots in matching colors to your sweater, so it could be a whole look,” she says, referencing Versace’s fall 1994 collection. (Schiffer, Nadja Auermann, Cindy Crawford, Stephanie Seymour, Christy Turlington, and Bridget Hall were photographed in these looks by Richard Avedon; the photo in question was featured in his recent retrospective, “Avedon 100.”) Schiffer, who was gifted several of these looks by Gianni and Donatella, even brought them with her to Milan, and wore them for photos before the show. “It’s such a flashback to the to the early ’90s,” she says. “The weird thing is, you can wear it again today. It’s fashion today.”