Donatella Versace - - Biography.com Donatella Versace Fashion icon Donatella Versace has been working as creative director of the Versace Group since 1997. IN THESE GROUPS quotes “Life is difficult. 'Happiness' is a word I do not believe exists.” “I don't know why people make such a fuss about working and being a mother. I think the most important thing is to spend quality time with your children, not quantity.” “I was the baby of the family. I was so spoiled. I was the best-dressed little girl in the city.” “The last two years of Gianni's life, I was going up into his apartment, showing him the work, getting the approval from him, but I ran the company because he wasn't showing himself. It was like a year and a half I did everything.” “I couldn't stand the pain. I had to hide my feelings. What better way to hide your feelings than with drugs?"[On developing a cocaine addiction following her brother, Gianni's death.]” Donatella Versace Synopsis Born in Italy in 1955, Donatella Versace grew up with two major fashion influences.

Her mother was a dressmaker and her older brother, Gianni Versace, was a budding designer. She went to work for her brother in the late 1970s, serving as his muse and adviser. Donatella Versace became the designer for the company's Versus line in the 1980s. After her brother was murdered, in 1997, she became creative director of the Versace Group. Early Life Born on May 2, 1955, in Reggio Calabria, Italy, designer Donatella Versace is one of best known names in fashion today. She is the younger sister of the late designer Gianni Versace. Donatella and Gianni learned about designing from their mother, who had a dressmaking business. "I was the baby of the family," she later explained to The New Yorker. "I was so spoiled. I was the best-dressed little girl in the city." Versace began developing her trademark look as a teenager—dyeing her hair platinum blonde and using copious amounts of dark eyeliner. She was remarkably close to her older brother, Gianni, who would take her out with him at night and make outfits for her to wear.

Donatella attended university in Florence for a time, but she eventually reunited with Gianni to support his clothing business. Fashion Muse When Gianni Versace started his own fashion company in Milan in 1978, Donatella was right there by his side. Their brother, Santo, was also a part of the business. Gianni relied on Donatella for her advice about his designs, and she played an important role in orchestrating many Versace fashion shows and advertising campaigns. She helped bring some rock 'n' roll spirit and celebrity cache to the line through her friendships with Madonna and Elizabeth Hurley. Versace also served as chief designer for the company's Versus line. She learned even more about the business in the mid-1990s, when Gianni battled cancer. In light of Gianni's recent health scare, the Versace siblings worked on a company succession plan. While Gianni won his fight against cancer, he lost his life in 1997 after being shot outside his home in Miami, Florida. Donatella was devastated by the death of her brother. Her daughter, Allegra, inherited 50 percent of the company from Gianni.

Top Designer Days after Gianni Versace's death, Donatella was announced as Versace's new creative director. By this time, though, she had already taken a leading role in the business. "The last two years of Gianni's life," Donatella explained to New York magazine, "I was going up into his apartment, showing him the work, getting the approval from him, but I ran the company because he wasn't showing himself. It was like a year and a half I did everything." Donatella has remained at the helm of the company's design vision ever since, helping to reinvigorate its product lines over the years. In 2009, she brought in Christopher Kane to design for Versus and reinvent the brand. After his departure, Versace collaborated with other upcoming designers on the line, also revamping the company's haute couture line Atelier Versace. Today, Versace markets a variety of product lines, from home goods to perfume, clothing and furniture. The company even operates two hotels. Personal Life Versace married former model Paul Beck in 1986. The couple had two children together, Allegra and Daniel, before separating.

Their son was named after a song by Elton John, a close family friend. Known for her wild partying lifestyle, Versace battled drug addiction after her brother's death. "I couldn't stand the pain," she told Vogue. "I had to hide my feelings. What better way to hide your feelings than with drugs?" After struggling with cocaine addiction for many years, Versace sought treatment in 2004. A pop-culture icon, Donatella Versace was spoofed on Saturday Night Live in a series of sketches, with actress/comedian Maya Rudolph playing the designer. Versace seemed to have a good sense of humor about herself, even calling Rudolph to give her advice. In 2013, it was announced that Versace would be portrayed by Gina Gershon in an upcoming television movie on the Lifetime cable network, House of Versace. Fact Check We strive for accuracy and fairness. If you see something that doesn't look right, contact us ! Citation Information Donatella Versace: Just a Sister Crystal Glass Tableware ï¿½ A Song of Crystal In the light of a variety and availability of glass items, glass ware is still appreciated by plenty people, especially when it comes to cut glass.

The cut glass produces a long, lingering and musical tune when you put your finger at the cut-glass edge. So, in Japan the craftsmen make unique musical instruments. A crystal violin, completely transparent, is estimated for fifty thousand USD. Crystal glass tableware is not so much expensive though it is able to produce the charming, unique and so brittle music providing it is properly cared. Popular Articles Donatella Versace: Just a Sister Sunday, 15 March 2009 If there is an icon of vulgarity, then this woman could fully fall into this concept. Ironed and bleached hair , lips blown with collagen, skin tanned to spots, clever blades of eyes, excess of plastic surgery miracles stood out a mile - this is her, a great sister of the great brother. Donatella Versace . Donatella was born in Calabria to the family of an ordinary tailor in 1956 and 10 years after her magnificent brother was born.

Just after the graduation from the university Donatella moved to her brother Gianni Versace to Milan who has established his own Fashion House by that time and held the office of a PR-manager, while their elder brother Santo, the economists, proceeded to finance of Versace family enterprise. Soon, apart from issues of image and publicity, Donatella added a new youth line Versus to her list of responsibilities which remains a well-known Versace inner line. And this line contributed significant amount of assets to the overall turnover of Versace Company estimated in many millions. As soon as Gianni Versace was tragically killed at the doors to his own villa on July 15, 1997, his Fashion House was at the threat of ruin. The Empire supported and maintained by the talented Gianni Versace was ready to get destroyed, and there was no way out. Then Donatella energetically took matters into her own hands. And only three months later after the death of her glorious brother, she released her collections that were very cool admitted by the public and critics. And another headache added to the overall rejection and disapproval was various guesses appeared in mass media.

They said that Donatella and Santo concerned to the murder since they always wanted to manage the Company independently as well as the mafia laundering money in his boutiques. But there was no confirmation of any gossips. It is known that Donatella spent a fortune to withdraw the most information about life of her brother Gianni from the investigation materials to prevent publication and duplication of the book about him. the author to the book was Frank Monte and his book reflected the whole Versace family. And Donatella showed herself as the real Italians, that is strong and determined. They still remember her words, «I am not my brother, and I cannot replace him». She decided not to achieve exact similarity with Gianni's style , anyway this was impossible. She went the other way: she found her own niche and managed to cope with all problems. Staying in the frame of styles created by Gianni, Donatella made new models (almost her own) by Versace more womanly, comfortable and less aggressive by the sexual appeal. Hence, eroticism and luxury remained the key components of Versace style so easily recognized. She never forgot that first of all she is the professional by marketing findings.

Her PR skills were expressed in very well selected trends of publicity. Donatella re-established the faltered status of the House in the fashion world for the short period and won the respect of colleagues designers and businessmen. Precisely following publicity traditions set by Gianni, she made stakes on celebs who attended every fashion show. Elton John , Liz Hurley, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Kate Moss were frequent guests at Versace show and even Charles, The Prince, once attended the show. And the miracle happened. Versace Empire survived. It grew significantly and developed: in 1998 the annual turnover of the Company exceeded 560 million dollars. Nowadays 40 style designers work supervised by Donatella, 17 clothing lines are developed, around 300 boutiques and 3000 commercial units function. Bear also in mind that Donatella is merely a woman. She is married for long time, she has a daughter who is the principal heiress of Gianni Versace and who has her own problems. And this iron lady has her problems either. Recently she had to make attempts to overcome the pernicious dependence. Stresses, shock, overstrain, and she really got hooked on.

Her close friend Elton John bodily dragged her to the famous addiction clinic in Arizona. She says that she feels okay. But look in her eyes. It may be a PR, isn't it? Natalia Rudenko 1000+ images about GIANNI VERSACE on Pinterest | July 15, Gianni versace and Allegra versace Gianni Versace (1946 - 1997) My favorite designer of all time. See More Allegra Versace Family - Parents, Siblings, Net Worth | Celebrity Family Giorgio Armani Family When you think Italian fashion, Versace definitely comes to mind! Allegra Beck Versace, the heiress to the Versace fashion empire, has always hated the limelight and prefers to be hidden from the public eye, especially after battling with her anorexia. This is practically impossible when you happen to be the daughter of Donatella Versace and the niece of deceased Gianni Versace, the Italian fashion designer and founder of the Versace fashion house.

Allegra Versace’s Parents- Donatella Versace and Paul Beck Donatella Versace is an Italian fashion designer, sister of Gianni Versace and mother to Allegra Versace. She is the daughter of Antonio Versace and Francesca Versace and is currently the Vice President of the Versace Group. She also works as its chief designer. About 20% of the stock market assets belong to her. Allegra’s father, Paul Beck, was an American model and occasionally worked for Versace. He was introduced to Donatella by Gianni Versace. He used to work for Armani till he met Gianni Versace and then he started working as a consultant to Versace. They got married in 1987 but were later divorced. They maintain an amicable relationship, but keep their distance. Allegra’s Siblings – Daniel Versace Allegra just has one sibling – her brother, Daniel Versace. He is in his twenties and lives in London. He is a rock musician. While Allegra inherited 50% of the Versace shares, Daniel inherited Versace’s prestigious art collection which includes the works of Picasso, Basquiat and Leger.

Allegra’s Extended Family 1) Gianni Versace He was murdered in 1997. This was an incredibly painful time for the entire Versace family as he was loved by everyone. Allegra Versace was closest to her uncle and at the age of nine, she would visit famous museums in France, England and America with him. He suffered from cancer prior to his death. But he never let his suffering affect his work at Versace. After his death, his sister Donatella, who took over the role of creative director while his brother, Santo Versace took over as CEO of the company. 2) Santo Versace Allegra’s second uncle took over as co-chief executive officer of Versace after his brother, Gianni’s death. He is also the President of the company. He owns 30% of the Versace shares. Donatella owns 20% and Allegra owns the remaining 50%. He was married to Christiana Versace and had two children with her- Antonio and Francesca Versace. He currently lives with a lawyer, Francesca De Stefano and they have a daughter called Ramona.

3) Tina Versace She was the older sister of Donatella, Gianni and Santo Versace. She passed away when she was only 12 years old due to a tetanus infection that was improperly treated. Allegra’s Net Worth How Donatella Versace turned the fashion house and her life around | Fashion | The Guardian Share on Messenger Close The late Gianni Versace once said, "If I were to marry, I would look for a girl like Donatella." Four decades ago, when Gianni was a young man and his sister, eight years his junior, still in her early teens, he would drive Donatella, her hair already bleached blond and coiffed under his instruction, her outfit approved, to the only disco in Calabria, southern Italy, with their friends. A decade later, when Gianni was beginning his career as a fashion designer in Milan, his indulged baby sister was still by his side - his muse and closest adviser. Rupert Everett, a friend of the Versaces, once described their passionate and fiery relationship as "a locking of energy fields".

As the Versace star rose in the 80s and 90s, brother and sister continued to party as well as to work together, although the locations moved from rural Italian discos to starry nights in a huge, elegant family villa on Lake Como, a palatial apartment on Via Gesù in Milan and, of course, Casa Casuarina, Miami. Then on July 15 1997, Gianni was gunned down at the gates of Casa Casuarina by Andrew Cunanan, and the Versace script was abruptly torn up. Donatella, who for 42 years had lived and worked under the protective wing of her brother, was thrust unceremoniously into the limelight, and into the design hotseat. Less than three months after Gianni's death, she took a bow in floods of tears to a standing ovation at the end of her first fashion show as designer. But the drama did not end there. The goodwill of the fickle fashion world ebbed as fast as it had swelled, and the pressure of saving the Versace name and business proved too much.

In 2004 Donatella's career as a party animal came to an abrupt end when she admitted herself to rehab for cocaine addiction. That was nearly four years ago. Today, it is two days after Donatella showed her most recent collection, the menswear show for winter 2008. There were dramatic black sheepskin ponchos, full-length beaver fur coats, and Beyoncé and Jay-Z in the front row. Versace is glamour to the core, but what has changed is the devil-may-care attitude, the spectacle of decadence that Versace once stood for. The setting for my meeting with Donatella is Gianni's Via Gesù apartment, which now functions as a kind of ceremonial headquarters for Versace, housing the showroom and a grand sequence of drawing rooms that Donatella uses for meetings and entertaining. Beyond the castle-sized doors that open on to one of Milan's smartest streets, a covered terrace is divided into a series of sitting rooms, with geometrically arranged clusters of black and white leather sofas, each arranged around a glass coffee table adorned with orchids. Elegant table lamps provide soft pools of light to counteract the wintry gloom.

It is a Monday afternoon, and there are no half-naked supermodels or Cristal-sipping hip-hop stars. Everyone is black-clad and businesslike, from the waiter who brings my water on a silver tray to the glossy haired employees who stalk purposefully across the courtyard stabbing at their BlackBerries. The floor is polished stone, but to judge by the demeanour of Donatella's entourage, one would have thought it was made of eggshells. In an industry where image is everything, designers are renowned for paying obsessive attention to the minutiae of their environment. I have spent enough time in Italian fashion houses to know that, frankly, an ambience of barely controlled hysteria is par for the course. (It is said that while Tom Ford was at Gucci, he micromanaged the aesthetic of the company to such an extent that an employee who wished to keep a yellow pencil on their desk, rather than black as prescribed, had to have a Polaroid of the pencil faxed to Ford for his approval.) But, here, one does not get the impression that Donatella is giving off-with-their-heads orders. She is not so much feared, I suspect, as protected.

We walk from the terrace to Gianni's first-floor rooms. The decor is that of a state apartment: marble busts in the hallways, plush gilt and velvet armchairs placed in regal pairs, glass bookcases of antique books. I am ushered to a low, mother-of pearl-inlaid coffee table by which two chairs have been placed. An attendant brings two glasses of water and, for Donatella, an espresso in an exquisite pink-and-gold bone china Versace cup and saucer. Another sets down a pack of cigarettes, which have been gift-wrapped in Versace paper, also pink and gold, and monogrammed DV - Donatella, famously, demands that this be done to each one of her ever-present packs of cigarettes, because she dislikes looking at the health warning - and a cigarette lighter thickly encrusted with what I take to be crystals but might just as well be diamonds. The stage thus set, Donatella makes her entrance. The first thing that strikes me is how tiny she is.

Once upon a time, Donatella's voluptuous bottom encased in tight, black trousers was as much a recognisable part of her look as her white-blond hair, but now she is petite, still curvy, but with a waist that cannot be more than 20 inches. In black trousers and a tight, black vest, her body is compact and dense, like a boxer's. She is seated by a window, and her assistant wonders if she will be cold, but she shrugs and explains she is dressed for her portrait. You don't work on having a body like that at 52 only to hide it away. She is striking, with olive skin, heavy-lidded eyes and the candy-floss mane of a My Little Pony. By rights, Donatella should be feeling rather jolly. The Versace label is in a healthier state than it has been in the 10-and-a-half years she has been at the helm. In 2006, after several years of running at a loss, the company posted profits of €19.1m (£14.2m). In 2007, sales rose 30%.

The company's debt, which stood at €1.5m (£1.1m) at the end of 2005, has been turned around into assets of €11.3m (£8.4m), despite the phasing out of licensing agreements that were bolstering sales but dragging down the image of the label. The prestige of the Versace name is also at a new high. Sarah Mower, the respected fashion commentator, called the last womenswear collection in September 2007 "hot, easy and believable", adding that "in days gone by, she might have loaded bling and busy prints on to dresses like these, but if there's one thing Versace has discovered in herself in the last couple of years, it's that she can also make glamour radiate from restraint... proof that Donatella Versace is at the top of her game". And while Donatella has been gaining respect for her own work, that of her brother has been enjoying a renaissance as a reference point for young designers. The London catwalk shows - often a signpost of the direction other cities will take in subsequent seasons - were last year full of references to Gianni's iconic clothes.

For all that, Donatella, although gracious and polite, is visibly on edge, her hand trembling as she sips her espresso. The British fashion press in particular have not always been kind to her so, to reassure her, I relate what Christopher Kane, a young star of London fashion week for whom Versace has been a major influence, told me when I asked what drew him to the label: "What has me hooked about Versace is the strong, sexual, elegant and sophisticated predator-woman that it seems to embody." She considers this for a moment. "I wouldn't say the Versace woman is predatory. I would say she is seductive. Women need to seduce in order to achieve their goals. I don't just mean seduce men - they need to seduce other people, and they need to seduce themselves, because once you seduce yourself, you start to like yourself and are better able to achieve what you want. There are lots of ways to seduce - the brain is the best seduction tool you have.

But clothes can help, too." The economic logic behind this - that looking sexy will get you what you want, and therefore it makes more sense to spend £1,000 on a scanty Versace cocktail dress than on a MaxMara cashmere coat - is at the heart of Versace. This is what gives the label its aura of sex and success, an aura that, handled well, can rub off on to lip glosses and keyrings and beach towels, boosting their market value by 1,000%. Donatella understands this perfectly: "The customer who wants something Versace," she says, "wants what Versace stands for." But the challenge she has faced over the past decade has been far, far tougher than simply creating more and more party dresses. The fact is that when Gianni died, the company was already in need of financial restructuring.

(Gianni was considering going to the stock exchange the following year; since his death, those plans have remained on ice.) What's more, the conspicuous consumption with which the label was associated - Malcolm McLaren once described Casa Casuarina as "a demimonde of stupendous and orgiastic splendour" - was already beginning to look anachronistic in a new era of stealth wealth. It was in these circumstances that Donatella, in the midst of her grief, was asked to step into the role of her dead brother. "I felt for a long time that I had this job because of a tragedy, not because I deserved it. I wanted to succeed for Gianni, because he cared so much for the company and I knew he would have wanted it to carry on. But I was frightened, and I had no confidence. What I knew was Gianni's style, because I had worked with him for 20 years, and I thought that was what people wanted from me, so I tried to follow in his footsteps. But it was not exactly my style." What's more, it didn't work. Donatella's collections began to be seen as pale imitations of her brother's work.

Santo, elder brother of Donatella and Gianni and the business brain of the family, oversaw the sale of Casa Casuarina for $20m (£10m) in 2001, followed by Gianni's Manhattan townhouse for $30m (£15m) and much of his art collection, including more than 20 Picassos - but still the company was mired in debt, and Donatella's drug problem was the fashion industry's worst-kept secret. Donatella's decision to go public about going into rehab in July 2004 was a turning point for the company. A culture of secretiveness was broken, and the following month Giancarlo di Risio, the highly rated boss of Fendi, was recruited to join the company as CEO. Donatella told the Wall Street Journal that having looked at where the company was headed, Di Risio told her, "This is not going to work. This is going to die." The label's secondary Versus line was ditched, the better to concentrate attention on the main line.

More assets were sold, and a new strategy of focus on accessories, by far the most profitable aspect of the luxury fashion business, was implemented. The new, sober Donatella "lost some friends and found some different friends". Beyond this, she is not keen to dwell on the bad days, swiftly closing down this avenue of inquiry with therapy-speak about being "in a good place". What she does want to talk about is how she found her own place in the Versace pantheon: what she calls "my revolution". From the start, Donatella's taste was slightly different from that of her brother. The New York Times, reporting on that first show noticed that the collection "felt as much like Ms Versace's aesthetic as Mr Versace's. Without that, there might be some doubt that the house could go on. But her colour sense is lighter, as is her touch." It was not until she had tackled her personal demons, however, that Donatella found the confidence to make the Versace name truly her own. The theme of renewal while staying true to one's heritage recurs often.

(Her favourite musician is Prince, she tells me, because "I love the way he renovates his sound while remaining consistent with his style".) Of the latest Versace ad campaign, which features Gisele Bündchen in a draped jersey dress against a white background, she says, "to use a celebrity supermodel is very Versace, but it's done in a much cleaner way: the lights are cleaner, the background is cleaner, the make-up is cleaner." The difference between the Gianni Versace look and the Donatella Versace look comes down to three elements "that were part of the Versace identity 15 years ago, and aren't today: bright colours, very revealing clothes and a lot of decoration. It took a lot of courage to get rid of those things, because I was not sure I could do Versace without them, but I found the confidence and I am very pleased I did. My revolution was successful." Jonathan Saunders, another hot name on the British fashion scene who has referenced Versace in recent collections, says that "being a woman she understands exactly what women want to wear and hits that balance between feminine and sexy rather then fantasy and sexy".

Donatella's style revolution does not appear to have extended to herself, however. Looking at her, it is hard not to be reminded of trauma victims who use an unchanging personal appearance to cling to the world as it was before tragedy stuck. "You have to renew yourself," Donatella tells me, "because tomorrow is what matters in fashion. Today is already old." Yet when I ask whether she ever feels like branching out from her monochrome, tightly tailored image, she seems positively affronted. "Me? In, what, flowery dresses? No. No, no, no. It would not go well with my personality. I don't wear clothes that are girlie, because I'm not girlie." Her vision for Versace now is to position it "at the top of luxury". The world has changed since Gianni's day - that was, as Donatella puts it, "a different economic moment" - and success in the luxury business increasingly means using a relatively small but high-profile clothing business as leverage to boost sales of non-clothing items, from perfume to private jets.

Accessories accounted for 4% of sales in 2005, compared with around 40% in 2007. Donatella has established a lucrative sideline customising the interiors of yachts and sports cars for the super-rich - the first Versace-branded helicopters will be delivered to customers this May, while the end of the year will see the opening of a seven-star Versace hotel in Dubai. The shifting of the world map of luxury has favoured Versace. Five years ago, the fact that the label courted clientele in Russia and China was the cause of much sniggering in the fashion world. Now that the emerging markets are the holy grail of the industry, this looks with hindsight to have been rather a smart move. Donatella owns 20% of the business, Santo 30% and Allegra, who at 21 is the elder of Donatella's children by her estranged husband, Paul Beck, 50%. Nonetheless, Donatella is insistent that the company is "no longer a family business. Not any more. That's the old Versace.

We have a new manager, and it's owned as a family but it's not run as a family any more." The recent emergence of Santo's daughter, Francesca (pictured left), a graduate of Central St Martins, as a promising designer with small collections of her own (coyly named Francesca V) has reinforced the assumption that the company will, at some point in the future, be passed to a younger generation of Versaces. (There are also two young men in the family, Donatella's son, Daniel, and Santo's son, Antonio.) But in the light of Donatella's insistence that Versace is no longer run as a family business, her newfound interest in mentoring young designers - she has taken a keen interest in Christopher Kane's career, and promoted that of Norwegian designer Kristian Aadnevik - takes on a possible new significance. Having herself buckled under the pressure of inheriting a family mantle, it seems unlikely that Donatella would be inclined to put pressure on Allegra, who has suffered from anorexia; and she becomes agitated when I mention Francesca as a possible future element of the company.

"She is doing her own thing," she says brusquely, swatting the idea away impatiently and leaning forward in her chair the better to get her point across. "I am not about to retire," she says, managing to convey disdain with the rolling of her "r"s. "The new era of Versace has begun already. I have just started it." The king is dead; long live the queen. Fashion world holds it breath for new Versace in the house that Gianni built | World news | The Guardian Fashion world holds it breath for new Versace in the house that Gianni built · Murdered founder's niece to make Paris debut · London-trained designer continues brand's revival Francesca Versace Share on Messenger Close When Gianni Versace was murdered on the steps of his Miami Beach mansion in 1997, many feared the flamboyant and idiosyncratic empire he created would die with him. But far from withering away, the brand seems as strong as ever; and in the coming days, two events are likely to mark its complete rejuvenation.

After a difficult period when the company appeared to be in decline, Gianni's sister Donatella will close Milan fashion week on Thursday, and within days, his niece will show her debut collection - under the Francesca V label - during Paris fashion week. It will be the work of Francesca that will be the cause of the biggest frisson - just a year after finishing her fashion design studies, the future of the dynasty may rest in her hands. Not that the pressure appeared to be affecting her. "Fashion is in my blood and I'm very excited about showing my collection," said the 25-year-old, whose father, Santo, controls the business side of Versace and is the brother of Donatella. Francesca's pedigree may explain her matter-of-fact reaction to having a major presentation in Paris so soon after graduating from the prestigious Central Saint Martins College in London - "Well, I was looking around for something after graduating and this happened." Perhaps a sense of entitlement is not surprising from a young woman whose childhood wardrobe largely comprised wares from one of the most expensive brands in the world.

Francesca's success neatly mirrors the return to prominence of the other, more famous range from the family stable, designed by her aunt Donatella, whose show will close Milan fashion week on Thursday night. This prestigious slot on the Milan fashion week schedule emphasises the place of importance still accorded to the famous brand. But after Gianni was killed just a month and a half before his "dear friend" Diana, few could have predicted the label would be so strong again. Donatella had been swiftly appointed creative director, although some questioned whether the woman best known for her love of parties was up to the job. By 2004, the company was struggling. Although it refuses to confirm exact figures, it was making markedly less a year than it did when Gianni was alive, with a year-on-year decline. The brand that had been so associated with excess and glamour of the late 80s and 90s was beginning to look out of date, and without a strong figurehead. The company cancelled its couture shows in 2003, and the following year Donatella was admitted to a drug therapy clinic for addiction to cocaine.

But since she checked out and cleaned up, Donatella has worked hard to make the Versace brand as strong as it was in her beloved brother's heyday. Instead of trying to mimic Gianni's past successes she has given the brand a new, more modern, more elegant image. Instead of dresses made out of safety pins, as Elizabeth Hurley famously wore in 1994, recent successes include more demurely draped cocktail frocks and tailored trouser suits. The most recent financial figures which date from September 2006 show that in the first half of that year consolidated revenues came to €148m (£103m) and a return to profit before tax for the Versace Group of approximately €2m.Sales across the board increased, particularly in the lucrative accessories division which exceeded 30%. Now thanks to what the Versace financial report calls "considerably increased cash flow", the company can indulge again in its love of excess. It recently announced it is to start designing the interiors of private jets and helicopters, a move the company describes as "a natural extension within the Versace world". Donatella's last show in February received almost unanimously good reviews.

As did her niece's graduate show in London in June 2006. Unlike the last graduate from the fashion college with an internationally famous surname, Stella McCartney, Versace received nothing but praise from the press for her graduate show, with fashion editors noting its "professionalism" and "sleekness". Although Francesca's father has always been seen as the quiet one of the famous Versace siblings, his daughter appears to be following in her aunt's footsteps in more ways than one. Aside from her early success in the fashion world since her arrival in London to study fashion design at Central Saint Martins she has been a regular feature in gossip columns and has been linked with various young royals and Hollywood actors. "She hangs around with a very Euro and Boujis set," said one of her friends in London, referring to the west London nightclub frequented by Princes William and Harry. Yet like her aunt she clearly takes her designing seriously. Her collection in Paris is done in collaboration with a boutique in Singapore, where she was living over the summer, and she has "quite a few" independent projects coming up. "Having this name can work against you or for you," she said on the phone last week.

"Right now things are going very well." In the blood Gianni Versace The man behind some of fashion's most iconic moments and head of an empire which at its height made over $1bn a year in sales. In 1997 he was murdered outside the house in Miami which he shared with his longterm partner. His killer later killed himself. Donatella Versace Youngest and most recognisable Versace sibling. Her celebrity-laden lifestyle made her Gianni's muse, and she became creative director when he died. After an initial downturn, which ended after she was admitted to a clinic for drug addiction, Donatella has returned the company to its former glory. She owns 20% of the company and her daughter Allegra, 18,owns 50%. Santo Versace The less flamboyant and eldest sibling. Established the Versace brand with Gianni in 1977, now in charge of the business side and many credit him with a large part of the recent resurgence. He almost never gives interviews. He owns 30% of the company.

Francesca Versace The only daughter of Santo, Francesca's childhood alternated between the academic expectations of her father to hanging out backstage at her uncle's shows with Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell. She trained at the prestigious Central St Martins in London. She has only asked her aunt for advice once but Donatella's response was: "You know how to do it." The Tragic Decline of the House of Versace The Tragic Decline of the House of Versace Business Donatella Versace, tiny, sculpted and forever blonde, was standing backstage after her menswear show at the Teatro Versace in Milan in June, receiving polite congratulations from a handful of editors and friends. The scene was positively dead compared with Versace shows a decade ago: no celebrities posing with Donatella for paparazzi, no bodyguards holding back the throngs, and no pals swilling champagne. Donatella's brother Santo, in his usual charcoal suit with black turtleneck, came back for a few minutes to shake some hands. Her husband, American-born Paul Beck, tall and tan, stood alone in the corner; no one even noticed him.

It all felt feeble, pathetic—a sad, soulless charade to promote something that no longer exists. The nonscene is a reflection of how far the Italian fashion house has fallen since its founder's death. When Gianni Versace was murdered on the front steps of his Miami mansion in 1997, the company immediately announced that his strong-minded sister, Donatella, would take over as creative director and his brother, Santo, would be CEO. The decision made sense at the time. The luxury fashion business was soaring, thanks to the new wealth of the Internet boom, and Gianni Versace was a favorite of the bling set, with his flashy designs, celebrity friends, and lavish lifestyle. The company was poised to become a luxury megabrand like Gucci, Giorgio Armani, and Louis Vuitton. Instead, Donatella plunged into profound drug addiction and made erratic business and creative decisions. While competing fashion brands turned into global powers, Versace has watched its sales plummet from $1 billion in 1996 to less than half that today. Major retailers such as Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman have dropped the line. The company has lost both its prestige and design influence.

Try Newsweek for only $1.25 per week Starting in 2003, after what Santo described as "seven years of woes," the Versace siblings acknowledged they couldn't run the company by themselves and hired a string of outside managers to straighten out the mess. But the outsiders failed too—in large part, Versace sources say, due to Donatella's and Santo's resistance to change. "The industry had changed and they did not evolve," says a former Versace executive who would speak only on condition of anonymity. In June, Giancarlo di Risio, Versace's CEO for five years, abruptly left. Sources say di Risio proposed more rigorous cost-cutting—with a particular focus on its owners' high-flying lifestyle—in response to the economic crisis and Donatella didn't agree. The House of Versace has denied this publicly and declined to comment for this story. Immediately following di Risio's departure, the company hired management consultants at Bain & Co. to come up with a three-year plan to get back on track; it also hired a new CEO, Gian Giacomo Ferraris, from Jil Sander.

To some extent, it's remained business as usual at Versace: last month Donatella jetted off to New York to host the Whitney Museum's annual black-tie gala, which Versace sponsored, and then to Brazil for the Rio Rocks Fashion extravaganza, where she co-hosted a grand charity dinner at the Copacabana Palace and hung out with Diddy and photographer Mario Testino. Days later, however, Ferraris announced the layoff of 350 employees—roughly a quarter of the company—as part of a "comprehensive corporate reorganization" to put Versace back in the black by 2011. With the fashion industry reeling from the lingering recession, many in the business wonder whether Bain's prescriptions will be enough to save Versace. "The old family way is not the new modern way," says Tom Julian, president of the Tom Julian Group, a brand consultancy in New York City.

"Whether it's McKinsey or Bain or Boston Consulting Group, these reputable firms have very strong recommendations, but it may not take hold or help the brand, given the hemorrhaging." For better or worse, the Versace siblings have always been devotees of the "old family way." In their hometown of Reggio di Calabria in southern Italy, their father, Antonio, was a methane-gas and coal merchant; their mother, Francesca, was a dressmaker who had a shop called Elle. The family lived in an apartment above the store. As a youth, Gianni helped his mother in the shop. "I shuttled back and forth between Reggio and Messina, I took the ferry and each time tried to choose more beautiful and extraordinary materials," he wrote in his book, Designs . Before his mother would cut expensive fabrics, he recalled, she would say a prayer. Gianni's brother, Santo, who was two years older, studied business administration at the University of Messina and helped out on the commercial side of the mother's business. Their baby sister, Donatella—11 years younger than Gianni—hung out at the shop and was fascinated with fashion.

She stomped around Reggio in platform shoes; as a teen, she was already bleaching her long hair platinum blonde. In 1972, Gianni moved to Milan to work as a freelance fashion designer for a midpriced ready-to-wear brand. Donatella was studying in Florence to become a teacher, traveling to Milan on the weekends to party with Gianni. By the mid-'70s, Gianni had decided to start his own fashion house, like fellow Milan designers Giorgio Armani and Gianfranco Ferré. With the help of Santo, Gianni put together the financing, and, in 1978, he launched Gianni Versace. Santo was the president, Donatella the muse. Gianni's designs—short, tight, and shiny (inspired, he said, by Italian hookers)—shocked the staid Italian fashion establishment but quickly became a hit with the nightclub scene. And though fashion editors and retailers personally found Versace's silver metal–mesh minidresses and black leather microskirts to be vulgar—they were the absolute antithesis of Armani's quiet chic and Valentino's restrained elegance—they looked fantastic in store windows and magazine pages.

In a matter of a few seasons, Versace made tacky not only acceptable but enviable. The first year's sales were approximately $15 million; within 10 years they reached $353 million. In 1996 Versace topped the $1 billion mark, with approximately half of revenues coming via licenses and 80 percent of sales coming from outside of Italy. With his newly earned wealth, Gianni began to invest in serious real estate and live the decadent lifestyle that helped draw attention to the brand. In 1977 he bought an abandoned property on Lake Como, Italy, called Villa Fontenelle and set upon restoring it to its early 19th-century glory. In 1992 he paid $2.9 million for the Amsterdam Palace, an elegant 1930s apartment complex on Miami's South Beach, and another $3.7 million for the hotel next door, which he demolished to make room for gardens and a swimming pool. He rechristened it Casa Casuarina and flew in artisans to add sumptuous mosaics, frescoes, and fountains. Two years later he acquired a stately townhouse in Manhattan.

In Miami, Gianni hosted hedonistic weekends for his celebrity friends Elton John, Sting, and Naomi Campbell; Madonna would stay in a suite that Gianni did up in red and gold just for her. But his family remained the centerpiece of his life, in particular Donatella's daughter, Allegra, whom Gianni referred to as his "little princess." He had great ambitions for her, even telling reporters that someday he wanted her to run the company. Throughout the late '80s and early '90s, the company opened stores in the world's capitals. Versace presented his haute couture collection at rowdy, celebrity-filled shows at the Hôtel Ritz in Paris. With the help of Donatella, who oversaw the brand's image, Versace became the house of glam: its shows and ads starred fashion's supermodels Naomi Campbell, Claudia Schiffer, and Linda Evangelista, and its highest-profile client was Princess Diana. "Even if it took me 20 years," Gianni said, "I've got to where I wanted to go."?In 1993, however, he was diagnosed with a rare cancer in the left inner ear.

Before Gianni's illness, Donatella handled fashion details, such as the models' look, the music, and the famous front row of celebrities for shows. But during Gianni's two years of treatments, Donatella oversaw the design team. When Gianni returned to work, Donatella balked; she loved the power she wielded in the studio and admitted "it was hard to give up." Their fights, in their local Calabrian dialect, were epic, according to witnesses. At one point, the pair didn't speak to each other for several months. In the spring of 1997, friends say Gianni exploded. "Enough!" he shouted at Donatella. "I have decided that we will do things differently. I don't want to do this anymore." In fact, what Gianni wanted to do was get Versace out of his family's hands and list it on the stock market. By mid-1997, analysts valued the company at $1 billion, putting it alongside megabrands Giorgio Armani and Ralph Lauren. After Paris couture week in July, Gianni flew to New York to meet Morgan Stanley bankers to plan the IPO.

Afterward he reportedly scribbled on the margin of the contract: "It has been fun. It will be even more fun. We'll see you in the fall to set the issue price." Five days later he went out for his morning walk along South Beach. When he returned to Casa Casuarina, a 27-year-old named Andrew Cunanan walked up and shot Gianni on his front steps. A nationwide manhunt ensued and eight days later, Cunanan was found dead on a houseboat in Miami; investigators concluded he committed suicide with the same gun used to shoot Versace. In his will, Gianni stipulated that Donatella's daughter, Allegra, who was 11 at the time, would inherit 50 percent of the company; Santo would get 30 percent, and Donatella the remaining 20 percent. Since Allegra was a minor, Donatella and Santo ran the show. Almost immediately, Donatella began to dismantle all that Gianni had built. Many of Gianni's longtime employees left the company, replaced by young assistants.

Donatella sacked legendary fashion photographer Richard Avedon, who had shot the Versace campaigns since the company was launched in 1978, and hired fashion darling Steven Meisel. And she changed the Versace design voice. For men, it went from sleek, well-cut suits to a more casual silhouette; for women, Gianni's signature sexy chic in bold tones gave way to something far more conservative and girlish, in a pastel palette. During a 1999 interview with NEWSWEEK, Donatella sat on an overstuffed couch in her late brother's living room in Milan, reflecting on how she'd assumed the helm since his death. "I know who the Versace woman is," Donatella said at the time, "because I wear the clothes myself." She insisted she was running the business "as Gianni would have wanted it," yet she was simultaneously unapologetic for imposing her own creative vision. "I had two choices," she said. "One was to take the work of Gianni and update it. The second was to take the collections further." Clearly, Donatella chose the latter. The creative shift confused and alienated retailers and consumers alike.

Longtime Versace customers turned to Gucci (designed by Tom Ford) for menswear, and Dolce & Gabbana and Roberto Cavalli for sexed-up womenswear. To make matters worse, by her own account, Donatella's use of cocaine escalated from social partying to a full-blown addiction. She became increasingly short-tempered, blowing up at assistants and demanding costly last-minute changes. Her employees feared her and avoided her whenever possible. "You were frequently getting the ugly monster and didn't want to go near it," recalls one. After Gianni's death, the Versaces were hit with a monumental inheritance-tax bill. To pay it, they received a five-year, $100 million bond issued by Morgan Stanley. But the over-the-top parties and extravagant vacations continued. "There was zero expense control in the company, and the lifestyle was absolutely, positively insane," says the Versace source. "When the earnings went down, the lifestyle didn't." By 2000, to raise capital, they were forced to sell off most of Gianni's prized assets, including his Miami mansion.

After the company posted losses of $7.1 million in 2002, Donatella and Santo hired Fabio Massimo Cacciatori, an outside management consultant, as CEO to turn the company around. "It started out as a lovefest," recalls the former Versace executive. "But soon it became torturous. Cacciatori rubbed people the wrong way. He wasn't interested in learning how or why things were done. He just said, 'The way you are doing this is wrong.' " Within a few months of Cacciatori's arrival, the source says, "there was a blowup, and in one day he said goodbye." Following Cacciatori's departure, Santo was encouraged to step aside, and, in December 2003, Versace's CFO Daniele Ballestrazzi was named the company's interim CEO. But Ballestrazzi spent a great deal of energy combating Donatella, who, because of her drug addiction, was becoming increasingly irrational. By then, she's said, she was regularly using cocaine and an array of sedatives, including Halcion, Valium, Ativan, and Rohypnol.

"When you use cocaine every day, your brain doesn't work anymore," Donatella told Vogue in 2005. "I was crying, laughing, crying, sleeping—I couldn't understand when I was talking; people couldn't understand me … I was aggressive; my voice was always high. I was scaring [my family] to death; my children were petrified of me." On June 30, 2004—Allegra's 18th birthday—longtime friend Elton John staged an intervention. Friends and family gathered in Milan for what was supposed to be a birthday dinner, and instead put Donatella on a plane to a rehab center in Arizona. (Last week a Versace spokeswoman dismissed Donatella's history of drug addiction as "extremely old news.") The change in the way the company was run upon her return was dramatic and swift. Within weeks, Versace had a new CEO, Giancarlo di Risio. His plan included cutting costs and selling assets. "Di Risio didn't do anything brilliant," says the former Versace executive.

"He did all the things that had been talked about for years, but suddenly Donatella was sober and stopped fighting it." By then, however, the damage had been done. In the decade following Gianni's murder, dozens of family houses like Versace had been listed on the stock market or sold to corporate conglomerates, which turned them into well-run global brands. In 18 months, di Risio returned Versace to profitability, but the overall state of the business was still weak. In 2007, Versace did approximately $400 million in sales—less than half of what it was doing when Gianni was killed a decade earlier. "Their numbers were better," says the Versace executive.

"But in a time when everyone else was making extraordinary profits, Versace should have been the biggest of the luxury booms, not the smallest." And even as Donatella successfully overcame her drug addiction, the family faced new challenges: in 2007 Donatella and Paul Beck issued a statement saying that "our daughter, Allegra, has been battling anorexia, a very serious disease, for many years." Now 23, Allegra is reportedly doing well, but it remains uncertain whether she'll ever fulfill her uncle's wish that she someday run the company. (Versace's spokesperson calls Allegra's health "private matters.") Most importantly, Versace lost its creative voice. All the zigzagging—the opening and closing of lines, the switching focus from expensive to cheap to expensive again—left consumers confounded. "When you think of Versace, you don't think of a total collection offering," says Julian, the brand consultant. "You think of gowns and accessories for women and suits and ties for men. You don't even think of them for footwear and certainly not sportswear.

Versace as a brand doesn't allow the consumer to just wander in and see what they have to offer." When global stock markets collapsed last year, consumer spending dropped dramatically, sending the entire fashion industry into a downward spiral, Versace included. Last year the Versaces sold the Lake Como estate; Donatella was said by friends to be heartbroken. In early 2009, sources say, di Risio began to meddle in the creative side of the business to try to bump up sales. That apparently was more than Donatella could bear, and within days of the rumors of a rift between the two, he was out. In mid-June, the company announced that Gian Giacomo Ferraris, CEO of Jil Sander, would be taking over, and the board approved Bain's turnaround plan. Will it be enough? All agree that the Versace name still has value, even if consumers no longer know what it stands for. Many in the fashion industry believe it's time for the brand to continue without Versace family involvement—and some suggest that the family is starting to accept this idea too. Last year, Santo was elected to the Italian Parliament.

Allegra has been attending Brown University and has said her dream is to become an actress. And will Donatella remain at the helm? "Maybe," says the former Versace executive. "Then again, maybe not." Which, after a decade of turmoil, may be the best thing for the company after all. Versaces Halt Unauthorized Book on Slain Designer - The New York Times The New York Times Style |Versaces Halt Unauthorized Book on Slain Designer Search Versaces Halt Unauthorized Book on Slain Designer By BY CATHY HORYN Continue reading the main story Like her late brother Gianni, Donatella Versace is no shrinking violet when it comes to revealing the more sensational aspects of her public life. Ask her about her diamonds, her famous friends or the time she flew a New York hairdresser to Milan to give her and Naomi Campbell extensions while they ate spaghetti in Ms. Versace's marble bathroom, and she will tell all. The corn-haired Ms. Versace, who assumed creative control of the $560 million Versace fashion empire after her brother's murder in 1997, is similarly candid about her family's complex relations.

When asked in March about a rift between her and Antonio D'Amico, Mr. Versace's companion of many years, she replied: ''My relationship with Antonio is exactly as it was when Gianni was alive. I respected him as the boyfriend of my brother, but I never liked him as a person.'' Ms. Versace smiled. ''So the relationship stayed the same.'' But as with even the most public personalities, there are apparently limits to what Ms. Versace and her other brother, Santo, the oldest of the three Calabrian-born siblings and the company's chief executive, want revealed about their family and business -- and by whom. Last week in New York, lawyers for the Versaces effectively stopped the publication of a controversial biography that would have depicted Mr. Versace as a colossal talent who, behind the glamorous facade of palatial homes and celebrity-filled fashion shows, bullied employees and berated journalists who wrote unflattering reviews of his collections. Along with depictions of promiscuity on the part of the designer, the book, which was in galley form and set for publication on July 1, also painted an unflattering picture of the life styles of the surviving siblings.

It was this latter material that apparently prompted the threat of legal action. Continue reading the main story Canceling a book so near its release date is not all that rare, but in the case of ''Undressed: The Life and Times of Gianni Versace,'' an unauthorized biography by Christopher Mason, the decision by Little, Brown raises questions about the kinds of pressure, legal and otherwise, that a powerful fashion house can bring to bear on a publisher, an author and his sources. Advertisement Continue reading the main story Mr. Mason maintains that in their effort to stop his book, representatives for the Versaces got in contact with people whom he had interviewed and tried to convince them to recant their statements, in some cases, he said, offering legal documents for them to sign. Just why Little, Brown, a division of Time Warner, halted publication is not clear. Michael Pietsch, the editor in chief (and Mr. Mason's editor), declined to comment, and referred questions to a spokeswoman.

In a brief statement, she said, ''In mid-March, we received letters'' from the Versace attorneys ''threatening legal action.'' She added that the publisher ''agreed with Christopher Mason that it could not be published in its present form, and he withdrew it.'' She also said that because the book had been postponed once, last July, and thus had appeared twice in Little, Brown's sales catalogue, the publisher was opposed to another delay that could diminish interest in the book. ''It would be impossible for Little, Brown to sell the book yet again,'' the spokeswoman said. The Versaces, through their press agents, Ed Filapowski in New York and Emanuela Schmeidler in Milan, said that they were satisfied with the decision by Little, Brown to kill the book, which they said they had opposed from the outset. When it was announced by Little, Brown on the day that Mr. Versace died that Mr. Mason had been signed to write a biography, to the grieving Versaces the author appeared to be an opportunist. The family have said they further resented the inference that Mr.

Mason -- a freelance writer of style and architectural articles for a number of publications, including The New York Times -- was a close friend of the designer (all agree that they had met only a few times, in 1997). Mr. Mason was shunned by the Versaces, and Mr. Filapowski said that his firm sent letters to potential sources asking them not to cooperate with him. To make matters worse, at least for Mr. Mason, who accepted a six-figure advance, he had agreed to complete the biography in six months, and he was unable to do so, which is why the book was shelved the first time. Two months ago, after bound galleys of Mr. Mason's manuscript had been sent to magazine editors for review, a report appeared in The New York Post saying that the author had hired ghost writers to draft chapters of his book. The suggestion that not all the reporting was his own seemed to be another strike against Mr. Mason's credibility. Mr. Mason said that it was the suggestion of editors that he employ ghost writers, though he said that most of that material was scrapped with the first draft. On Monday, Mr.

Filapowski said: ''It is apparent that Little, Brown lost confidence in this manuscript. The manuscript is full of inaccuracies and misrepresentations and clearly could not be salvaged. We did what anyone else would do under the circumstances, which is to defend ourselves and our name.'' Advertisement Continue reading the main story From Milan, Ms. Schmeidler added that the objections of the Versaces were not based on unflattering depictions of the family, but rather on the veracity of Mr. Mason's reporting. ''It's not about a good biography or a bad biography,'' she said. ''It's about a serious biography.'' But Mr. Mason and people familiar with the legal discussions that took place say that Little, Brown's decision to cancel the book had little, if anything, to do with the veracity of the reporting. Beginning last December, Mr. Mason's manuscript went through an extensive legal review, he said, and again in early spring when attorneys for the Versaces threatened to take legal action if changes were not made. A number of changes were made, Mr. Mason said, though some of the most unflattering material passed the initial scrutiny of Little, Brown's lawyers.

''I felt completely confident about my reporting, and I had substantial documentation,'' Mr. Mason said. ''I felt, sure, we were having problems, but they could be easily surmounted.'' At the same time, Mr. Mason said, he began to receive ''terrifying, whithering'' phone calls from sources, about 10 in all, who he said told him they had been reached by the Versace attorneys or family representatives and told that they could face legal action if they didn't recant statements they had made to Mr. Mason. ''They were obviously extremely scared,'' said Mr. Mason, who on the advice of his own lawyer declined to give their names. ''I certainly got the feeling that a lot of people were intimidated by the implications of talking to me for this book.'' Mr. Filapowski denied that there were any attempts to intimidate sources. Mr. Mason acknowledged that his project had been dogged by problems from the start. It had been his intention to ask Mr. Versace, whom he visited in Miami in the spring of 1997 after writing an article about his New York town house for The Times, to collaborate on a book. He had planned to see Mr.

Versace in August at his home near Lake Como, in Italy, and was drafting a proposal when the designer was killed. ''If he hadn't been interested, frankly, I don't know whether I would have done the book,'' Mr. Mason said. Against his better judgment, he said, he agreed to write ''Undressed'' in six months. ''I have to admit, you know, to a certain amount of a naivete in this,'' he continued. ''Obviously, I wanted to do an extremely thorough, thoughtful, balanced, scrupulously researched account of Gianni's life. No one can do a book in six months.'' Advertisement Continue reading the main story Mr. Mason may have been out of his depths in other ways. Without a deep knowledge of the idiosyncratic fashion world, and because the Versaces effectively closed off access to many of the primary sources who could have given him greater insight into the family, Mr. Mason's perceptions may not have been fully informed. For instance, he seemed surprised when told of Donatella Versace's comment about Mr. D'Amico, which is typical of her brusqueness. ''I'm amazed to hear her say that,'' he said.

Yet, after everything he has been through, he has at least seen one reality of the fashion business. ''Image is so important to a fashion house,'' he said. ''For the Versaces, I'm sure, it's an economic decision. I don't think it's just vanity. It's a giant commercial decision. It's business.'' In recent years, the Versaces have successfully sued several British publications for libel, winning in court or settling for damages and a public apology. Mr. Mason's publisher, despite canceling his contract, paid his advance in full, freeing him to sell the book elsewhere. He added, sounding fatalistic: ''They've won, basically. The book isn't coming out. They won.''

Question: What is the last name of siblings Gianni and Donatella?
Answer: Versace