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Donatella Versace interview "Madonna is Madonna"


Andra

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-Have you ever "mixed" your friendships?

Donatella: « I tried it! Once i reconciled Jennifer lopez with courtney love. Lady Gaga would love to but...Madonna is Madonna. "you are terrible" i keep saying to her, but like her there is only Hillary Clinton: control and control, no initiative to others.»

- Lady Gaga in the previous campaign complained a lot during the "approvals" phase of the images, and Madonna? Donatella: With Lady Gaga was a bit more complicated. on the other hand she is focusing on her transformism and charisma and she is always tanking risks with this. There was a tough fight due to this.With Madonna this didn't happen, she did all by herself in her NY studio!

http://www.corriere.it/moda/news/14_dicembre_26/madonna-lady-gaga-mie-amiche-fragili-f4c2225a-8d30-11e4-8376-7968cfa1d9ad.shtml

Is she trying to make Madonna look like the immature one here?

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I translated the whole interview

Donatella said that Madonna devolved her campaign fee to her hospital project in Malawi

http://www.corriere.it/moda/news/14_dicembre_26/madonna-lady-gaga-mie-amiche-fragili-f4c2225a-8d30-11e4-8376-7968cfa1d9ad.shtml

tumblr_n4hl6znXCf1rsjz5lo1_500.jpg

Boos and criticism for Madonna and what does her friend do? She wants her in her campaign. Communication or sorority? All it takes is five minutes to find out that the answer is obvious: F-R-I-E-N-D-S-H-I-P. And a little bit of jealousy which never goes amiss. Long blond hair, bistred eyes and that too thin body, her glam side doesn't do Donatella Versace justice, a loyal friend and a staunch, feminine feminist:

"What we get wrong? There's little solidarity between women: at the end of the day everyone is only concerned with themselves, we lack the group mentality; we talk about it but we don't actually do it".

Is it therefore out of solidarity that you picked 56-year-old Madonna to front your campaign?

During her last concert she wasn't feeling well and she knew it, she had some problems. I never saw her like that before, she was even late taking to the stage. We talked several times and one day she told me she was recording her new album and she never says something for the sake of saying it: I understood. I immediately asked her: "Shall we do something together?" And she said: "Yes, I want to be incredibly beautiful". That's how it went. And if I've acted instinctively, later I thought that she gets so much criticism but all these younger pop stars want to be like her or better than her. Having then my female clients in mind, I said to myself: who wouldn't want to be beautiful, powerful, famous at 50?

In your previous campaign Lady Gaga had a lot of say in approving the images that would be chosen. What about Madonna?

With Lady Gaga it was a bit more complicated. After all she's all about charisma and a chamaleon-like approach. So it was like hand to hand combat. But with Madonna it wasn't the case at all. I just led her to believe that there were the set, filters and all the rest. She then did it all by herself in a NY studio, almost all by herself

Was a lot of retouching involved?

Not much! She wasn't keen on the idea herself! She could have looked like a 30-year-old. Instead she looks 40-45. She doesn't have retouched abs or a smoothed arm. But I told her first and foremost: "You mustn't be just sex! I want to see the person that I know: a vulnerable person, someone who's afraid, someone who suffers from loneliness but who's strong, determined and brave at the same time. And that's exactly how she comes off in these shots and I think that when she will look back to them 20 years from now she will recognise herself.

Do you criticise each other?

Sometimes: she says I get the wrong stylist and I say to her out of vengeance (she laughs) "who's dressing you?" when she confuses things

How long you and Madonna have been friends for?

Since Lola was born 17 years ago, no wait, since before that. Now I'm going to say something I've never told before: when my brother died, I took a night flight to Miami. And there I found her, she was there waiting for me at Gianni's mansion. I will never forget this. She's wary by nature because she started from zero and has gone through so much. But we immediately connected with each other. I was outside the delivery room for both Lola and Rocco.

What is friendship?

Sharing. Of your emotions. And it's not about for how much time but the important thing is being there for someone. I have many friends but not that many true friends but my true friends know that they can count on me. If a female friend of mine needs something I just drop everything I'm doing and I go to her

They say that once you're famous you can't distinguish anymore between true friends and sycophants.

We realise it very well, we may pretend not to. And often we're feeling lonely.

Have you ever "mixed" your friendships?

I tried to. I once succeeded in making Jennifer Lopez reconcile with Courtney Love. Lady Gaga would really love it ....... but Madonna is Madonna. I keep telling her: "You're terrible". But like Madonna there is only Hillary Clinton: everything is about control and no initiative ever left to others.

Do you ever talk about getting older?

Absolutely not and why should we get sad? There was once sexism now we suffer from ageism: I say no to that! Age is a state of the mind. And on top of that it's got nothing to do with art. That said, obviously nobody likes wrinkles and fat. So why not taking care of one's body? For Madonna it's a job, every day, four hours. I've been a gym devotee for 28 years, now I go three times a week and I alternate between yoga, pilates and free body training. I'd like to think it's more about discipline than about hedonism.

What is feminism?

It's also femininity. Today many things get done under the flag of feminism, I prefer when women are actively involved in tackling social issues. I think about Madonna and her hospital in Malawi to which she immediately devolved her fee for our campaign. Or Angelina Jolie and everything she's doing with her foundation.

Make a wish. Who would you like to feature in your campaign after Madonna?

Angelina Jolie, even though she's a woman who plays alone and doesn't like a group approach

A second wish: a new friend?

Malala. I tried to contact her before she was awarded the Nobel Prize. Now I'll wait: I'd like to sit down with her and have a talk. And then I like all these new girls coming from Hip Hop, from the street, like Nicki Minaj, nothing to do with a Miley Cyrus: they really know the meaning of solidarity, at last.

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Although her poor command of the English language doesn't help here, I think she's just saying that M is pretty clear about what she wants! :D

:lol:

Here she's speaking in Italian to an Italian journalist but I agree on what you wrote about her command of the English language regardless :rotfl:Someone of her means/lifestyle and travelling opportunities could try and do a lot better with it

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I wonder if the journalist gave her a line of coke before the interview?

She's given us a lot of personal insights and stories about Madonna. Surely she knows that's a big no no when you're in Madonna's inner sanctum.

But then again I guess being the face of VersaYce it was appropriate to give a bit more than standard PR dribble.

Dontella comes across quite nice.

PS. Thanks for the tranlation XXS :kiss2:

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You can tell with the gaga answer she is just trying to be politically correct, instead of coming out and saying what she really feels: she is dog ugly and it took the photography team 2 weeks ( hand to hand combat ) to convert the mole into something palatable ( chamelion ) but she still looks like a dog.

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:lol:

Here she's speaking in Italian to an Italian journalist but I agree on what you wrote about her command of the English language regardless :rotfl:Someone of her means/lifestyle and travelling opportunities could try and do a lot better with it

:chuckle: Oops! Didn't notice the source was Italian... :blush: Thanks for the translation! :kiss2:
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I translated the whole interview

Was a lot of retouching involved?

Not much! She wasn't keen on the idea herself! She could have looked like a 30-year-old. Instead she looks 40-45. She doesn't have retouched abs or a smoothed arm. But I told her first and foremost: "You musn't be just sex! I want to see the person that I know: a vulnerable person, someone who's afraid, someone who suffers from loneliness but who's strong, determined and brave at the same time. And that's exactly how she comes off in these shots and I think that when she will look back to them 20 years from now she will recognise herself.

Thanks for translating.

I love this quote, the 40-45 age bracket should be what the retouching reflects now, any lower just looks ridiculous and doesn’t fool a soul.

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thank you for the translation. I always knew that Donatella is a very emotional and loyal person.

I am quite surprised about the Miami and the deliver room stories. But thats really nice of both, her and Madonna helping each other.

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Thanks for the translation.

I love Donatella, I've recently watched several docos on her and Versace and she seems like such a sweetheart, always friendly and in good spirits. And I adore her thick accent. She must be fun to hang with.

Too bad she's fucked up her looks so badly :(

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How long you and Madonna have been friends for?

Since Lola was born 17 years ago, no wait, since before that. Now I'm going to say something I've never told before: when my brother died, I took a night flight to Miami. And there I found her, she was there waiting for me at Gianni's mansion. I will never forget this. She's wary by nature because she started from zero and has gone through so much. But we immediately connected with each other. I was outside the delivery room for both Lola and Rocco.

:inlove:

Thanks for the traslation!

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