donatella versace

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Donatella Versace

Donatella Versace (b.1955) is a prosperous fashion designer from Italy, also responsible for establishing the Versace imperium and the owner of a great deal (about one fifth)of the overall capital of the company. Presently, she is the CEO of the Versace corporation and manages the fashion line.

Brief Biography

Donatella, being the last of four children in the family, was born and grown up in Reggio di Calabria, Italy. Around 1975 she, together with her elder brother Gianni, went to Florence in order to engage in the knitwear design. She intented to work for Gianni as PR, but he perceived her rather as a "muse and critic".

In fact, the partly incidental engagement in Gianni's company made her way to the sphere of fashion industry. In 1980s,Versace introduced a perfume named Versus, which has been exclusively made for Donatella(often titled Blonde).

Donatella and Versace

Donatella i probably the first fashion designer who engaged prominent stars(suchas Madonna, Demi Moore and other A-List stars) in propagation of her clothing collections – the celebrities wore her items on many public occassions, TV ads, etc. and soon Donatella was known all around the world; her name was noted in the whole Europe and the majority of the U.S.

Her popularity in the U.S. grew also due to the American comedic skit show titled Saturday Night Live(where she has beeen many times impersonated by Maya Rudolph), as well as by her own cameo performances in some movies tackling with fashion and its true colours(like Zoolander or the more recent film The Devil Wears Prada).

The importance of the Versace corporation grew rapidly, partly due to the contribution of her brother Santo, who is a well-known designer as well. He owns another sub-brand of Versace - the Finanziaria Versace.

Tragedy in Miami

After the tragical event in Miami(Florida)Donatella together with the rest of her family momentarily moved to an isolated, nonpublic destination in the Carribean.As a result, the planned collection for the spring and summer of 1998 was called off. Giovanni was buried in the Roman Catholic Cathedral in Milan( Italy) , in accordance with the traditional ceremonial. This official funeral (broadcasted all around the globe) was attended by more than 2.000 people; among the illustrious invitees were Elton John, Giorgio Armani, Diana Princess of Wales, Naomi Campbell, Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy, Sting, Luciano Pavarotti, Karl Lagerfeld and other notable designers. Elton John with Sting sang "The Lord is My Shepherd".

Path to success

In July of 1998, almost at the exact date of the tragedy, Donatella organized her first fashion show in the name of the Versace Atelier at the Hotel Ritz ( Paris). The catwalk(made entirely from a pure glass) for this show run over the hotel's swimming pool, as an allusion to her deceased brother who used such catwalks every season.

Nowadays she has to supervise the manufacturing of many clothing collections, but her present fame stems from a different field – she i well-known for her sometimes controversial parties for the “creme de la creme“, hosting names like Elizabeth Hurley, “coccaine“Kate Moss, Elton John, Catherine Zeta-Jones and , surprisingly enough, Prince Charles. Donatella is a restless personality - she is constantly moving from one “home“ to another, without any intention of a permanent stay.

Shooting off the various spheres, Versace group created the symbol of luxury and grace – Palazzo Versace, located on the Gold Coast ( Australia). A large variety of Versace furniture can be found also in the world's tallest hotel - Burj al-Arab in Dubai (UAE).

The concept for another “palace“ - Palazzo Versace Dubai- was officially presented in May of 2005 and will comprise (of course) the original Versace furnishings, various suites, luxury villas and even a high-class spa. Donatella is supposed to complete the concluding plans and make out tactics for the hotel and resort conglomeration.

During the autumn of 2002, Gianni and Donatella's most appreciated clothing collections were presented in the Victoria nad Albert Museum( London)in an unique show, which symbolized the outstanding success in the field of the world's fashion industry.

Donatella's family and residence

With her previous spouse – an American model Paul Beck – has Donatella two children, son Daniel (b.1989) and daughter Allegra (b.1986).Allegra Versace is, after her mother Donatella, the only one heiress of the fashion empire (including vast real estate properties throughout the world).

Giovanni Versace's firm assets which were, since his death, sold to various owners – for example, his estate in New York (concretely in the Manhattan quarter)is by experts evaluated at more than 21 millions USD.

"Only you understand how I express what I feel" --Gianni to Allegra

Gianni was an outstanding personality, a symbol of fashion world and the basis of the Versace Group. After he was shot, there was nobody to lead the immense corporation aimed at designing and producing clothing. However, in his testament he propounded that stated that his niece Allegra was to inherit the majority of his properties and other titles. So, Allegra was given – as a “present“ for her eighteenth birthday - the best part of her uncle's Giovanni property worth about 700,000,000 USD, which comprises also the country residence on Lake Como in Italy and other valuable estates.Allegra's brother Daniel was willed to acquire the scarce artwork collection of his uncle.

Nowadays, Allegra is the preferred heir to the Versace group, which believes she and her mother Donatella are able to bring a “fresh air“ and the lost charisma of the deceased Gianni to the company.