Donatella Versace, an heiress too iconic (even for herself)

BarcelonaBeing a pop icon is surely the most contradictory thing in the world: everything the icon does makes the news, but no news about her manages to change the image people have created. This is the life story of Donatella Versace, who has recently made headlines because, after 27 years, she has ceased to be the creative director of the firm that bears her name. Just like other icons like Dolly Parton, whose musical work is overshadowed by her unbridled hair. field, or like Cher, whose merits are overshadowed by her surgeries, Donatella's work has always been overshadowed by her ultra-smooth platinum hair and her undisguised addiction to tanning.

But what is Donatella's work?, many people who look closely at the CV of this icon are now asking. Honestly, there are many possible answers, but I am absolutely clear: survive. Survive for almost 30 years in the fashion industry, which denied her everything when her celebrated brother Gianni Versace was shot dead outside his home in Miami in 1997. Her greatest achievement has been being able to impose herself on the industry that looked at her with the eyes of a judge in the artist.

'Original sin'

We'll never know why Donatella, who was the only possible heir to the Medusa brand, had so little support. Why was she a woman? Because she wasn't dressed in an Armani suit, as the industry judges expected of a woman. businesswoman of the 90s? Why didn't she hide who she was or where she came from? Even though she'd always lived in her brother's shadow and no one knew her abilities, she was left with some unidentified original sin that wasn't forgiven. I think if a man had inherited the position from her creative partner—which is what Gianni and Donatella were from the start: he referred to her as "muse" but also as "critic"—that wouldn't have happened. But she wasn't that lucky...

However, during these three decades in which practically no one believed in her, the youngest of the Versace family—now 69—has not only managed to preserve the opulent creative stamp of her beloved brother but has also managed to make him desirable in times when the prevailing fashion was for sobriety and minimalism. She weathered global economic crises, company buy-and-sells, family disputes, and also her own demons, which dragged her into an addiction from which cocaine was rarely dispensed. "I was the new face of Versace. Who buys fashion from a weak, unstable designer who's crazy because she takes drugs because she can't stand it? Nobody!" she explained in 2018 to a Canadian magazine. "Everyone was looking at me with daggers in their eyes," she says she felt when her brother died and she inherited a position for which she had to "create a second Donatella: cold, distant, aggressive, and terrifying in order to survive." "My hair got blonder and blonder, my makeup got thicker. I created a mask that protected me; I didn't want anyone to see what I was going through," the creative confessed.

Now, he's clean from his addiction after being taken away by Elton John jet In a private detox clinic in the United States, Donatella has begun to be recognized for her achievements at the head of the company formerly led by Gianni Versace. It was at the time of her creative farewell that the entirestar system Globally, both inside and outside the fashion world, he has applauded his ability to constantly renew the codes left over from the Gianni era over the course of 27 years, as well as his ability to penetrate the brand with new generations, some so young they don't even know who the late designer was. He has also been praised for his ability to transform the brand into something desirable for the media with fashion designs and staging that have achieved great media coverage. For example, His is the creation of the Jungle Dress, which Jennifer Lopez wore when she called herself JLo, which caused such a stir that it led to the creation of Google Images. The parade – on the twentieth anniversary of his brother's death – that he organized with the tops of the 90s dressed in completely golden outfits made of Oroton, a milestone that achieved an international media impact.

Marketing talent

Her talent for dressing celebrities constantly, so that her designs go viral, has also been one of her greatest skills. So much so that she has regularly become one of the most applauded at the Met Gala, where she has signed. looks for history like Zendaya's armor or Lil-Nas's, the Oscars and even the Super Bowl, where she dressed Jennifer Lopez in the performance she shared with Shakira. In fact, both of them, but also Dua Lipa, Taylor Swift, Madonna or Lady Gaga have trusted Donatella's designs for their world tours. Diana of Wales or Beyoncé in Crazy in love They've worn Donatella's designs. This is also supported by hundreds of covers in the best-selling magazines, the unlikely Fendace collaboration, and her keen eye for discovering young talents like Anthony Vacarello—currently creative director of Saint-Laurent—whom she signed for Versus, Versace's youth line.

Grave shadows

Evidently, not everything has been bright in her extensive fashion career, which began 50 years ago, even though only her 30 years as a solo artist are talked about. In fact, she herself admitted that when she quit drugs, she truly realized that she had driven her beloved brand almost to bankruptcy. Therefore, while she deserves great credit for having survived the inheritance, we must also mention the robustness of her brother's creative body, which managed to survive her darkest moments. She has outlived the brand, but the brand has also outlived her.

Staying in the top tier of fashion for 30 years is an immeasurable achievement. Just look at how young people full of energy and talent fold after a decade because they can't go on any longer, and nothing more is known about them. Placing a new designer at the helm of a brand whose founder has passed away is also a task that often ends badly. Large companies pay millions to top creatives to keep brands alive that have lost their founder and to update them for new clientele. But this, of all the attempts, succeeds less than halfway. Because there are many designers, but few talented ones.

Hence, we should applaud Donatella, because, without her brother's innate creative skills or the mental health tools she should have had back then, she has managed to bring forward a brand that was worth €1.8 billion in 2018. In fact, her work has been so powerful as the new face of the brand that, 27 years later, when someone thinks of Versace, they think of the genius's sister before the genius himself. Those who looked at her with dagger-like eyes in 1997 must have gouged out their eyes right now. Perhaps because they didn't see that, despite no longer being the creative force, she will be the global ambassador at the company's suggestion. As serious as this may seem to many, Donatella will never disappear from Versace, because she is the woman of the Versace imagination.