Donatella Versace: Distinguishing a Modern Woman From a Cultural Creative or Smart Sensuality Femme

Donatella Versace is an enigma to me in some respects. She strikes me as a Modern woman, not a Smart Sensuality one. Why is she here then? To help us understand a Modern woman and her values.

Remember that Moderns remain the dominant values set in America, but their share is declining from its 50% stake of our population. Cultural Creatives are increasing from their 25% share of the population. (We wait with bated breath for Dr. Paul Ray’s research findings from a new global survey). Traditionals are declining from their 25%.

Donnatella Versace interviewed by Lenny Kravitz for Interview Magazine Sept. 2009Smart Sensuality women tend to be style-conscious women who have worked in Modern companies and climbed the Modern values achievement ladder. But their hearts have largely encompassed Cultural Creative values.

Some Cultural Creative women are also Smart Sensuality, but Cultural Creatives don’t prioritize how they look, vs what they do with their lives or their relationships with people.

CCs tie personal consumption to a priority concern for the environment, workers around the world, and living conditions for all. Clothes are not at the top of their life agenda.

The latest Louis Vuitton handbag doesn’t send chills up the spine of a Cultural Creative woman, as it does the Modern one.

As for the Smart Sensuality woman — she’s trying to weigh all the issues. She likes beautiful things, but also has an increasingly mindful social conscience. It’s not easy for the Smart Sensuality woman to rationalize away the reality of the world around her. She’s too smart.

I feel strongly that that Smart Sensuality women are an intersection that Dr. Ray identified in the values sub-groups, where Moderns overlap with Cultural Creatives. Ten years ago, Barbara Streisand was a great example of a Smart Sensuality women. So is Donna Karan.

Back to Donnatella Versace.

What elements in her lifestyle suggest that she’s a Modern values woman, not a Smart Sensuality one?

September 2009 Interview magazine features a conversation between Donatella and her friend Lenny Kravitz.

For starters, Donatella is a talented whiz in the design lab. Devastated when she inherited her brother’s design mantle at the house of Versace, the lithe blond Italian workhorse has exhibited both stamina and brilliance in advancing the Versace brand in a sexy, modern context.

Of all the designers, Donatella Versace is in the forefront of combing sexy with high tech. A core Modern value concerns the triumph of technology over just about everything.  In the case of some new eco-fabrics, technology is absolutely a key factor in success.

Eco-technology is a Smart Sensuality concept, at least in clothes and architecture. Cars get a little dicer. Price becomes a factor in all discussions, although Smart Sensuality women and Cultural Creatives have incomes equal to Moderns.

The non-Modern woman is inclined to spend money more carefully (especially now), asking herself what else she can do with the cash. Translated: do I save money on the handbag and buy a microloan for a woman in India? 

Tomorrow’s consumers will make these kinds of values-driven decisions.

When it comes to Donatella Versace, her products are beautiful and technical, but they lack soul — in a way that Prada’s don’t. Even though the brand is toned down considerably, we’re seeing rock-star glitz.

All photos Versace Fall 2009, via Style.comFair or not — and not judgmental — because I’m exploring values with you here, not saying which ones are right or wrong, Donatella seems to believe:

• Our exterior image means everything

• A woman cannot possibly be too thin

• Any amount of plastic surgery and enhancement is not enough

• One can never be too rich or famous

• Donatella seems comfortable on the eco-shame list

Reviewing Dontella’s philanthropy record, I don’t feel qualified to comment. Clearly, she’s no Angelina Jolie, committing one-third on her income to philanthropy. Every designer is committed to philanthropy in some way. Donatella has done a lot of work with AIDS, because of her brother Gianni’s support also of the cause. The company has built schools in China.

In the eco-fault list, Donatella is Modern all the way:

• Versace travels with her furniture, via the New Yorker, via Plenty

• Donatella is big on skins. This story in the Daily Mail about python skins will curdle your stomach.

• Donatella privately decorates Versace-brand private jets with trademark leather sofas. She also delivers a Versace brand 747. This is very Modern — s(he) who has the most toys wins. Note: I’m not taking a position on long-haul flights here. I believe the world must keep flying. But designer jets are very Modern, unless they are eco-jets top to bottom, and then you better fly around some very disadvantaged children in it.

No self-respecting Smart Sensuality woman can disembark from a Versace jet.

Versace is very “clean” these days, having conquered all her addictions. Life gets murky here, because I don’t believe we want to suggest that Cultural Creatives and Smart Sensuality women have no addictions. But cocaine is to Modern as yoga is to Cultural Creatives.

Michelle Obama and I both drink martinis, so no comment on alcohol, except that hopefully a Smart Sensuality woman drinks no more than two. We’re supposed to know our limits. You get my drift. Moderns don’t have a sense of “limits”. The male-dominant thinking of Moderns is about man’s triumph over technology (and the denial of death, but we’ll go there another day.)

The whole idea of Modern values is of conquering human nature. Think the 24/7/365 always-on, checking the Blackberry, digital mindset.

Donatella credits her Italian heritage with the importance of family in her life. No stones will be thrown in this part of Versace’s life. her daughter Allegra is the ultimate heir of her uncle Gianni’s company. Unfortunately, Allegra Versace, 22, has struggled with anorexia for years.

Allegra and Donatella VersaceThe family acknowledges her physical problem, which is absolutely associated with Modern values, but can hit the lives of any mother and daughter: Traditional, Modern or Cultural Creative.

One last fact that confirms Donatella Versace’s status as a Modern woman. She and Naomi Campbell are best friends. You can’t get better Modern woman credentials than that. Anne