The artful dodger: Donatella Versace

22nd March 2008

The artful dodger: Donatella Versace

Donatella Versace, sister of slain fashion mogul Gianni Versace, is this week’s profilee of Time’s 10 Questions feature. After her brother was killed in 1997, she took over the family business and built it into a global brand – but not for a global demographic. Asked one Time reader:

Q. Do you think the fashion industry should make clothes for plus-sized women?

A. Plus-sized women shouldn’t think of themselves as a size. They should think of themselves as women with rich goals in life. Size doesn’t mean, really, anything. You can carry your size with pride and dress in a way that you like.

After reading this I thought, “Wait a minute – Does Versace even make plus-size clothes?” Note that Donatella never quite answered the reader’s question and the company’s website doesn’t specify. Neiman-Marcus carries Versace, but doesn’t offer the brand in plus-sizes. Nordstrom also offers the line, but stops short at size 14, the size at which plus-sizes start.

So, how exactly can women wear their “size with pride and dress in a way that [they] like” if your fashion line doesn’t make clothes to fit their bodies? You can dress as you like, as long as what you like isn’t Versace? And I find this oh-so-empowering response to be rather disingenuous coming from the same agency that embraced the arrival of heroin chic and regularly features waif-thin emaciated models in its advertisements and on the runway.

You’d think that after daughter Allegra Versace was diagnosed and treated with anorexia last year the Italian clothier would be a bit more cognizant of the powerful and negative ways in which society and media make women feel about their bodies. If actions speak louder than words, what does the Versace line say to girls and women?

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This entry was posted on Saturday, March 22nd, 2008 at 3:56 pm and is filed under Fashion, Fat Acceptance. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

1 On March 22nd, 2008, vesta44 said:

Any fashion line that stops at a size 14 is telling women who wear sizes larger than that that we aren’t entitled to be fashionable, at least not their version of fashionable. Frankly, from what I’ve seen of the fashions on the runways, I wouldn’t be caught dead in any of them, even if I was a size 14 or smaller.
Basically, by saying “You can carry your size with pride and dress in a way that you like”, but not making her clothing lines in sizes we can wear, she’s giving lip service to the idea that we can dress with pride and in a way we like, but she’s not making it a reality.
Being what would be termed “super-sized”, I find it difficult to find clothing that fits and looks halfway decent, let alone looks anything close to fashionable. It’s one of the main reasons I’ve said to hell with fashion, I’ll dress for comfort and in what I like, and designers can KMA.

posted on March 22nd, 2008 at 5:42 pm

2 On March 22nd, 2008, socalbap said:

At one time, the House of Versace did do plus sizes (Italian 50 and up). It was called GV Versatile Couture. I think they stopped doing it in the late 1990s or thereabouts.

posted on March 22nd, 2008 at 8:29 pm

3 On March 23rd, 2008, Wookie said:

There’s just something about Donatella that makes me a little sick to my stomach, and after reading that quote from her, I think I just got a little bit sicker. I’m sorry, but she’s coming off as one big hypocrite to me.

posted on March 23rd, 2008 at 12:47 am

4 On March 23rd, 2008, Charlotte said:

Yeah, you can “dress in a way you like”, just not her clothes. The fact that she pretty much avoided answering the question is kinda shady.

posted on March 23rd, 2008 at 5:12 pm

5 On March 23rd, 2008, Karen said:

Having “seen” the timeless beauty and style of Donatella (eyeroll), I’ve never thought she was cognizant of much of anything beyond hydrogen peroxide, Hawaiian Tropic tanning oil and syringes full of silicone.

posted on March 23rd, 2008 at 10:47 pm

6 On March 24th, 2008, mille said:

What a dumb question. What would a good answer be? “No, plus-sized people should not be allowed clothing. They should all be naked all the time.” Or “No, it is not the fashion industry’s job to make clothing. Hospitality workers should do it. Or Lawyers. But certainly not the fashion industry.”

People who own a business get to make the decisions about what that business sells. I don’t have any problem with a fashion label not going up to my size. It’s their loss, not mine. If I want to dress my booty in Versace, I will have to be Versace-sized. I don’t assume that Versace would even be able to make fashionable clothes in my size. I would pay good money to NOT look like Donatella.

I wouldn’t be able to have a fashion line for thin people, because I don’t have an understanding of how clothes work on a thin body. I have been plus-size my whole life. That’s what I know, and that’s what I would want to work with.

Plus-size options are limited, but they are much more available than 10 or 20 years ago. I believe we will see more innovation and fashionable offerings from new designers on the scene; we can’t depend on the major fashion houses.

posted on March 24th, 2008 at 2:02 pm

7 On March 24th, 2008, Rachel said:

Agreed on the more options and availability, Mille. And also agreed that Donatella had no easy way of answering this question without making her line appear sizeist.

Certainly business owners can make decisions about what it is they sell and as to their niche in the market. There are plus-sized lines and stores that specialize only in plus-sizes, just as there are stores that cater to older women and stores that cater to girls and teens. But I also think that when I go into a mainstream store like Target and Kohls and can walk out finding absolutely nothing I like in my size, it’s sizeist. They are telling me, by lack of availability, that they don’t want my money or me shopping in their stores. It’s their loss – loss of my patronage and my money – but it’s also a loss to me and my self-esteem. Fat women shouldn’t be relegated to fat-only stores or the internet to find clothes readily available to a minority of the population.

And what bothered me most about Donatella is the double-speak and blatant hypocrisy in her statement and her actions.

posted on March 24th, 2008 at 2:55 pm

8 On March 24th, 2008, Moe said:

I think she’s too busy dealing with her own demons to consider her daughter or anyone else’s. I was shocked at the pictures of her and the obvious over usse of plastic surgery. Is that being too judgemental? Probably…

posted on March 24th, 2008 at 7:31 pm