Where do kids with life-threatening illnesses and Donatella Versace—she of the mile-high heels and skintight dresses — converge? Well (yesterday at least), at the Whitney. On Wednesday afternoon, the designer exercised her maternal muscles at an event for Art Unites, a charitable collaboration that aims to aid children in the US and China by exposure to the visual arts. Along with Whitney director Adam Weinberg and artist Ellen Harvey, Versace joined a group of New York City kids with chronic diseases to produce drawings on the theme of “friendship.” The kids’ artwork will be fashioned into one-of-a-kind Versace tote bags, with proceeds going to the Starlight Children’s Foundation and One foundation. “After they finished, their faces were so happy,” Versace told us. “And it made me happy to think of the children.”



















