Today is a lesson in appreciating the Versace family and house.
Already you know Donatella and her brother Gianni for their inspiring design and fashion sense, and everyone who’s a fashion or model fan knows about the memorable “Freedom” moment, but what you may not know is the massive love and devotion the Versaces have felt toward their models runs extremely deep.
“That moment when my brother put on the runway Christy, Linda, Cindy, and Naomi together—they sang ‘Freedom,’ and George Michael was in the audience—that was an iconic moment of fashion. That moment was when super-models really became supermodels. It was the print girls’ move to the runway, and that was something that felt new too—the print girls were not usually catwalk girls.”
Donatella explains that she was always the one convincing Gianni to feature the supermodels in Versace. And true to Italian fashion, Donatella is all about the over-the-top personalities, of which she is demanding more of now. “I said to Gianni, ‘Do not be afraid like everybody else, because it is just stupid. Fame on fame means more fame! It does not take away anything; it adds.’ It gave personality to the clothes, it gave things an edge that a runway show needs, otherwise it can be so borrring.”
She even recounted a story about Linda Evangelista and Kristen McMenamy fighting about their roots and the founder of the idea. “One day they had a fight about roots. Kristen had arrived with black roots in blonde hair, and Linda arrived with black roots in blonde hair; and both of them went mad, both saying they were first. Really, that is a big thing for models—roots! They were calling the hairdresser in New York, the colorist in New York, and I was called on as a witness to say who was the first to do black roots in blonde hair. At the time Steven Meisel was really inventing the look of the girls in this way, so I knew who was first: Kristen.”
Over the years, Donatella has found and cultivated the next crop of supermodels, including Kate Moss. With Georgia May Jagger starring in the current Versace ads, can we expect the same rise to fame, since she has the brand’s stamp of approval?
