Designs on an empire

DONATELLA VERSACE blew into town with her entourage last weekend and set up camp in a smoking-allowed bungalow at the Beverly Hills Hotel. The Pink Palace’s high-profile clientele being what it is, it’s unlikely that she is the only regular guest who can claim a “Saturday Night Live” doppelganger.

Yet when Donatella, as everyone calls her, is in residence, the glamour quotient rises, even at a legendarily fashionable place. Her celebrity friends turn up, for one thing -- the likes of Jennifer Lopez, Rupert Everett and Cindy Crawford. And since the centerpiece of her current visit is celebrating a Rodeo Drive Walk of Style award given to her and her late brother, Gianni, on an otherwise quiet Monday afternoon, the hotel lobby is taken over by a crowd of chisled young models. A few giraffe-girls with Slavic accents drape themselves over the furniture -- they will hover in the background of one of Donatella’s television interviews wearing killer Versace gowns. But most of the beauties gathered for the casting session, which Donatella herself will conduct, are male.

After she finishes taping a segment for the “Today” show (leaning on silk pillows from the Versace Home Collection), she will choose four of the assembled hunks to provide atmosphere at a Walk of Style black-tie bash for 500 scheduled for Thursday evening in a temporary tent at the Beverly Hills Civic Center. Earlier Monday, she’d quietly communed with an actress who had the Academy Awards on her mind and cruised the stores on Robertson Boulevard. “The young Hollywood girls are very inspiring to look at,” she says. “I like to see what they’re wearing.”

Back in her bungalow, where scented candles and floral arrangements mask the smell of tobacco, Donatella sits for an interview, surrounded by public relations personnel who were imported from New York and headquarters in Milan, Italy. The hair and makeup artists who have accompanied her are poised to provide touch-ups as needed. Much of her conversation lacks spontaneity. She has a message she wants to convey, and she’s probably delivered it before, many times, in fact. But she does laugh now and then, suggesting that she’s prepared to have a little fun, even when talking to a journalist.

The next day, she toured the spruced-up and expanded Versace boutique in the 2 Rodeo Drive complex. At the store, “Access Hollywood” got its 15 minutes, and an L.A. Times photographer was given his due. Then she changed into a glittery black sci-fi bustier and narrow trousers for a taping of Jimmy Kimmel’s ABC late-night show. The outfit had the perfect Versace blend of beauty and bombast. Framed by curtains of long, blond, fairy-princess hair, Donatella chuckled and schmoozed with Kimmel in her soft, heavily accented voice, seeming more like a shy girl happy to be at the party than the head of a $352-million corporation.

Nearly three years ago, she went into rehab to deal with a drug problem that she had struggled with for years. Clean and sober, she says, “I’m much more focused. I have a clearer vision. Of course, when you look inside yourself and decide to make changes in your lifestyle, everything around you is affected. I’m much more serene. I’m much more confident, and I like myself much more.”

Although none of the chores on Donatella’s busy schedule would appear particularly arduous to the average ditch-digger, the pace she typically maintains is hectic enough that the real Donatella sometimes longs to trade places with “SNL’s” version of herself as portrayed by Maya Rudolph. Last Saturday night, the faux Donatella starred in a sketch about a Versace Super Bowl Party. “I was laughing hysterically,” Versace says. “I wish my life was like that, that all I had to do was give parties. She has parties, and that’s it. She doesn’t work.”

In addition to serving as creative director of Versace since her brother Gianni’s murder nearly 10 years ago, Donatella symbolizes the brand. Her look is distinctive and consistent -- the hair, the prize-fighter’s nose, perpetual honey-hued tan, high-gloss nude lips, buff little biceps and the thighs of a sixth-grader. She was surprised that a trail of people followed her when she toured the Forbidden City in Beijing.

“It’s difficult to get used to people who don’t know you scrutinizing you, seeing if you have the right hair, the right makeup,” she says. “It’s uncomfortable, but it’s also my job. Part of my job is to be a public person. Before, a designer used to be just a designer. Now, to represent the company is my job as well.”

When her brother’s sudden death thrust Donatella onto center stage, it was her designs that received tremendous scrutiny. “People were asking, ‘Can she do it?’ I didn’t know the answer either,” she says. “In the beginning, it was normal for me to follow in Gianni’s footsteps. I didn’t have a lot of confidence in myself or my ability. But Gianni wanted me to have a point of view as a woman designer. He’d ask what my point of view was. As I grew more secure in the last few years, I’ve been making changes.”

The changes included some housecleaning. Boutiques that weren’t profitable or in prime spots were closed. Flagship stores in Milan, New York, Brussels, London and Los Angeles were restyled and refurbished. There are 80 Versace stores worldwide now, and the company is investing heavily in Asia, where it operates five stores. It plans to open 10 more this year, including another boutique in Southern California.

Donatella describes the Versace style as “Sensual, glamorous, sophisticated.” Her last few collections have been particularly well reviewed, and the Versace look, ever babe-alicious, is popular with newly rich Russians and moneyed Asians. But the house of Versace has the same problem as any established fashion brand that attempts to evolve: They must do so without alienating their faithful customers.

Skin is essential to the Versace ethos. Photos of Elizabeth Hurley almost dressed in a Versace gown held together by safety pins went around the world in 1994, as did pictures of Jennifer Lopez in a notoriously revealing jungle-print dress at the 2000 Grammys. At last year’s Oscar fest, Versace gowns worn by Jessica Alba, Uma Thurman, Hilary Swank and Salma Hayek replaced shock value with elegance.

“They all looked different, which is very important,” Donatella says. “I have had some requests already this year, but we don’t know till the last moment who will wear our gowns. This year it’s about light, fluid fabrics. The look is more sophisticated and less loud, less heavy than before. When a woman looks wonderful on the red carpet, it’s the combination of the person, their personality and a great dress. Dressing women for the red carpet, even the ones I have relationships with, is very stressful. But it’s worth it.”

The value of the world’s best-known personalities being seen in Versace? Priceless. Most of the gowns worn to award shows are from the couture line, so if anyone’s keeping tabs on how expensive it is to outfit the famous, the cost comes out of the couture budget. Although a chief executive, Giancarlo Dirisio, was hired in 2004, not even he would dare rain on the red-carpet parade.

Versace had long been run like a family business, and in some ways, it is likely to remain one. Donatella’s 20-year-old daughter inherited half the company’s shares two years ago. Her son was bequeathed Gianni’s art collection. Donatella has been separated from her children’s American father for six years. Her older brother, Santos, who was CEO, now serves as president of the board of directors.

“I made it possible for Donatella to concentrate more on designing now and less on running the business,” Dirisio says. “We are changing from a fashion company into a complete luxury brand.”

There are Versace luxury hotels in Dubai and Australia and a division that designs the interiors of private jets. In the last year, sales of accessories have grown from 4% to 40% of sales, reflecting Dirisio’s strategy.

At the Beverly Hills boutique, rather understated jewelry, shoes, sunglasses and two lines of handbags glitter under strategic lighting. Handbags that sell for $1,500 and more are the blingiest. Not even the most die-hard Versace fan would likely wear the label head to toe. “The sophisticated part of L.A. is very casual during the day,” Donatella says. ‘Women wear jeans and a T-shirt but always with the right accessories. The shoes or the bag or the sunglasses will be important. Then, when they go out at night, they really take care with what they wear.” Sleek luggage, with the Versace Greek key motif embossed in leather, looks like it will never be touched by a commercial airline baggage handler.

Evening dresses in shades of gunmetal and silver and a textured gold leather coat are displayed on willowy mannequins. If it weren’t for her hair and the massive round yellow diamond ring weighing down her right hand, Donatella, dressed in a sedate brown pantsuit for the boutique’s official opening, might blend into the crowd gathered for a cocktail party. Yes, she’s having another party. But she’s working too.

mimi.avins@latimes.com