Donatella Versace Biography

Name : Donatella Versace
Date of Birth : 2 May 1955, Reggio di Calabria, Italy
Height : 5' 5" (1.65 m)
Occupation : Fashion designer

Donatella Versace was born in the Italian city of Reggio di Calabria, the youngest of three children in her family, her father being a personal financier to the Italian aristocracy. In the mid 1970s, Donatella followed her 25-year older brother, Giovanni ('Gianni'), to pursue knitwear design in Florence, Italy. Donatella had planned to work for her brother as Public Relations, but she was more valuable to Gianni as a 'muse and critic', according to Donatella during an interview with Vogue. (... more) Through her closeness to her brother's enterprises, Donatella plunged into the fashion world. A decade later, during the 1980s, Gianni launched a perfume dedicated to her, "Blonde", and gave her her own diffusion label, "Versus", which remains a well-known Versace inner line.

A year and three days after Gianni's death in July 1998, Donatella Versace mounted her first couture show for the Versace Atelier at the Hôtel Ritz Paris. She built her runway over the hotel's swimming pool, as her brother had done every season, though this time using sheer glass. She now oversees the production of a dozen collections each year, though these days, Donatella is just as famous for her celebrity entourage and glittering parties. Regular guests include Sir Elton John, Liz Hurley, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Kate Moss. Even Prince Charles attends Donatella's parties for the famous and elite throughout Europe.

In 2008 Donatella Versace was made the honorary chairman for London's Fashion Fringe, judging upcoming designer talent.

In 2009 Donatella asked Christopher Kane to revive Versus the diffusion line originally started off by her brother, Gianni Versace in the Eighties. The pair have successfully revitalised the brand, making it a major player again on the Fashion Week schedule.