Fashion: From the muse to fashion matriarch: Donatella Versace becomes 70

There are two shots through which Gianni Versace’s life takes an abrupt end. When the celebrated designer returns on July 15, 1997 after a morning walk to his villa “Casa Casuarina” on Ocean Drive in Miami Beach, his murderer lurks him. Two pistol balls hit the then 50 -year -old Italian in the back of the head. He sags together on the white marble levels of the property. He dies in the hospital.

At that time, Gianni Versace’s sister Donatella is preparing a show. After the terrible news about the death of her beloved brother, she immediately hurries to Florida. The history of the Versace house was coming to an end at the time, but Donatella promptly took responsibility for the fashion house as chief designer. She turns 70 on Friday (May 2).

At that time, Donatella not only took the murder her closest confidante, but also plunged the Italian into a severe life crisis. “The death of my brother was so brutal that I stayed in a serious shock for years without working properly. I was his shadow, we lived together, both professionally and privately,” she once told Vogue.

Cocaine, beauty operations and depression

After taking over the company in 1997, at the former Muse Giannis, there was a huge pressure: Donatella Versace fought depression. Drugs and addiction to cosmetic surgery determined their lives more than fashion. The experts insulted its new collections as a horrible luxury trash, the fashion house subsequently increased. She herself promoted money and, according to confidants, merged the uncontrollable diva.

The Versace, who came from Reggio Calabria in southern Italy, experienced a low point at the time. The British singer and composer Elton John, a close friend, recognized her serious problem and persuaded her into a drug deprivation. Then they went uphill for them privately.

The path was rocky, but Versace made it: the company recovered slowly and the house was finally able to increase the profit again. With her penchant for Pomp and Pop, she shaped the fashion world. With their shrill leopard patterns and the Medusa head as a logo, Versace did not hit every taste, but lovers still cost thousands of euros to this day.

Darling of the big stars

Donatella, the former appendage of her brother and ridiculed by critics, made it to the undisputed fashion matriarch. Stars are at her feet. Lady Gaga, Madonna or Angelina Jolie – they all wore their clothes. When Jennifer Lopez 2000 appeared in a green Versace robe at the Grammys, so many people then looked for a new function online: Google image search.

In addition to her striking fashion, Versace always had to endure mockery about her appearance. Too smooth too smooth, too tight the cheeks, too blond the hair. The lips banged, the skin sunbathed, the eyes deeply and framed in black: so it looked for a long time. At the end of last year, her look caused a stir again: fans were amazed at a photo on her Instagram account, where she looked surprisingly fresh and natural.

Boulevard media puzzled over their new beauty look for weeks and months. Did she skillfully retouch the photo? Or a surgical intervention again? In later appearances, they saw them again with the new appearance. “Donatella has a new face,” wrote a user on social media while someone else raved: “She just looks fantastic.”

Out on Versace shortly before the birthday

Versace has many successes: the label has become an even more important player in the fashion world, everyone knows the name of the brand and business. Donatella Versace himself became the living icon over time: Lady Gaga dedicated the song “Donatella” to her, and she is hardly missing on a red carpet. Your name is even a term.

But shortly before her 70th birthday after almost three decades at the head of the company, she stepped back and handed over the baton to the younger generation. She cleared the post of chief designer and then becomes the chief brand ambassador of Versace. For many the end of a legendary era.

Shortly afterwards the domestic competitor Prada took over the Versace house. Donatella Versace seems to be in peace with the takeover. At Instagram she posted a photo together with Prada matriarch Miuccia Prada and wrote that she wanted to support the new era “in every conceivable way”. Donatella and Miuccia have one thing in common: For decades, the two prevailed in the Italian fashion world dominated by men.