Sexy biker look for Versace at Milan show

Denim, leathers and chains were the look at Versace's Milan Fashion Week show on Friday, as the family-owned brand looks for a possible investor to buy a stake.

The company this week said it wanted a minority investor to pump finances into the brand and help develop it further.

Its collection for the spring/summer 2014 season was characteristically over the top, edgy and verging on kitsch.

"Twenty-first century Versace is boldness, energy, rock and casual luxury," it said in a note after its catwalk show in Milan's fashion district.

Designer Donatella Versace was going for a mix of the glamour associated with the brand and a more "street style".

"I wanted everything to look casual but with a street toughness," she said.

Fluorescent colours gave the collection a youthful look, along with high-cut leather jackets and skinny jeans.

There was even a black T-shirt with a heavy metal theme in the collection, which Donatella herself wore when she came onto the catwalk after the show.

The use of metal mesh was particularly striking in various forms -- as a neck scarf, a pocket and as part of a dress.

A source told AFP this week that Versace hopes to select an investor next month to invest around 250 million euros ($335 million) for a stake of 15 to 20 percent.

Italian daily Il Sole 24 Ore said one possible investor for the company, which is still 100-percent family owned, could be Qatar's sovereign wealth fund.

Brand founder Gianni Versace was murdered in 1997 outside his Miami Beach mansion by spree killer Andrew Cunanan.

The Mediterranean-style seaside villa was sold at auction earlier this month for $41.5 million (30.7 million euros).