Donatella Versace

Donatella Versace (born 2 May 1955) is an Italian fashion designer and current Vice President of the Versace Group, as well as its chief designer. She owns a 20% share of the business. During the 1980s, Donatella's brother, Gianni Versace, launched a perfume dedicated to her, Blonde, and gave her his own diffusion label, Versus. Versace took over the label's design after her brother's death.

Early life and family

She was born in the Italian city of Reggio Calabria, the youngest of four children in her family. Her father was a personal financier to the Italian aristocracy. An older sister, Tina, died at the age of twelve from an improperly treated tetanus infection. Her brother Santo Versace owns 30% percent of Versace stock.

Fashion debut

In the mid-1970s, Donatella followed her older brother, Giovanni ("Gianni"), to pursue knitwear design in Florence, Italy. She had planned to work for her brother in the public relations department, but was more valuable to Gianni as a "muse and critic", according to her during an interview with Vogue. Through her closeness to her brother's enterprises, Donatella entered the fashion world. A decade later, during the 1980s, Gianni launched a perfume dedicated to her, Blonde, and gave her her own label, Versus, which remains a well-known Versace line.