Daily Front Row

2011 November 1

It's Donatella Time!

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Donatella shot on film.
Ami Sioux for Newsweek View Gallery

Newsweek talks to the always-entertaining Donatella Versace while she's plugging her H&M line, and in her world, everything's rosy. A few nuggets from Jacob Bernstein's cheeky piece:

1. She smokes Marlboro Reds; her lighter is bedazlled with rhinestones.

2. She hates digital photos and praised Newsweek's photographer Ami Sioux for using film to take her picture because it has "soul." 

3. When her friends staged an "intervention" that sent her to rehab in 2004, Franca Sozzani said, "The only thing she complained about was not be able to wear high heels. She said, 'I can give up anything but not my high heels.' She's totally ironic and self-aware."

4. She's political! "The Parliament (in Italy) is good at selling lies. That's what they do, they sell lies, and I'm embrassed."

5. Meow! She loves Lagerfeld ("He's a living genius and fearless."), but doesn't care for Roberto Cavalli. "I think that to a collection-how do you say-as an homage to Versace, that is fine. But when you do a lot of collections as an homage to Versace-why? What's the point?"

6. She loves drinking water, and a glass accompanies her everywhere she goes. "We don't know how that glass gets there every time, but it always does," a member of her staff reveals.