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 If there is
an icon of vulgarity, then this woman could fully fall into this concept. Ironed
and bleached hair, lips blown with collagen, skin tanned to spots, clever
blades of eyes, excess of plastic surgery miracles stood out a mile - this is
her, a great sister of the great brother. Donatella Versace.
Donatella
was born in Calabria to the family of an ordinary tailor in 1956 and 10 years
after her magnificent brother was born.
Just after
the graduation from the university Donatella moved to her brother Gianni
Versace to Milan who has established his own Fashion House by that time and
held the office of a PR-manager, while their elder brother Santo, the
economists, proceeded to finance of Versace family enterprise. Soon, apart from
issues of image and publicity, Donatella added a new youth line Versus to her
list of responsibilities which remains a well-known Versace inner line. And
this line contributed significant amount of assets to the overall turnover of
Versace Company estimated in many millions.
As soon as
Gianni Versace was tragically killed at the doors to his own villa on July 15,
1997, his Fashion House was at the threat of ruin. The Empire supported and
maintained by the talented Gianni Versace was ready to get destroyed, and there
was no way out. Then Donatella energetically took matters into her own hands. And
only three months later after the death of her glorious brother, she released
her collections that were very cool admitted by the public and critics. And
another headache added to the overall rejection and disapproval was various
guesses appeared in mass media. They said that Donatella and Santo concerned to
the murder since they always wanted to manage the Company independently as well
as the mafia laundering money in his boutiques. But there was no confirmation
of any gossips. It is known that Donatella spent a fortune to withdraw the most
information about life of her brother Gianni from the investigation materials
to prevent publication and duplication of the book about him. the author to the
book was Frank Monte and his book reflected the whole Versace family.
And
Donatella showed herself as the real Italians, that is strong and determined.
They still remember her words, «I am not my brother, and I cannot replace him».
She decided not to achieve exact similarity with Gianni's style, anyway this
was impossible. She went the other way: she found her own niche and managed to
cope with all problems.
Staying in
the frame of styles created by Gianni, Donatella made new models (almost her
own) by Versace more womanly, comfortable and less aggressive by the sexual
appeal. Hence, eroticism and luxury remained the key components of Versace
style so easily recognized.
She never
forgot that first of all she is the professional by marketing findings. Her PR
skills were expressed in very well selected trends of publicity. Donatella
re-established the faltered status of the House in the fashion world for the
short period and won the respect of colleagues designers and businessmen. Precisely
following publicity traditions set by Gianni, she made stakes on celebs who
attended every fashion show. Elton John, Liz Hurley, Catherine Zeta-Jones and
Kate Moss were frequent guests at Versace show and even Charles, The Prince, once
attended the show.
And the
miracle happened. Versace Empire survived. It grew significantly and developed:
in 1998 the annual turnover of the Company exceeded 560 million dollars. Nowadays
40 style designers work supervised by Donatella, 17 clothing lines are
developed, around 300 boutiques and 3000 commercial units function.
Bear also
in mind that Donatella is merely a woman. She is married for long time, she has
a daughter who is the principal heiress of Gianni Versace and who has her own
problems.
And this
iron lady has her problems either. Recently she had to make attempts to
overcome the pernicious dependence. Stresses, shock, overstrain, and she really
got hooked on. Her close friend Elton John bodily dragged her to the famous addiction
clinic in Arizona. She says that she feels okay. But look in her eyes. It may
be a PR, isn't it?
Natalia Rudenko
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