The Donatella Patrol

In Milano or Miami, Donatella Versace is big muse

Donatella Versace has gathered hurricane-like force in the social and style mondes—and not without a little bit of controversy. At the Versace family's extravagant new Casa Casuarina in Miami's South Beach, GEORGE WAYNE talked with Gianni Versace's sister and muse about her high profile and the ever blooming Versace fashion empire.

George Wayne:They say that Donatella is the muse of Gianni Versace. What exactly is your role in the house?

Donatella Versace: It's a family company, so my first role is sister and friend to my brothers, Gianni and Santo. We have no yes-men around, and that is very important. I do the accessories, the children's line, the lingerie line, and the Versus collection. But my main role is working with Gianni 24 hours a day. I'm on his case all day long. I drive him crazy, but I think a designer can be greater with a feminine opinion.

G.W.What is a typical day for you?

D.V. I have breakfast with my family, and then I leave the house at 7:45 and work out until 9:30. Then I take a shower and go up to my office. I say good morning to Gianni, and we start the day, first looking at fabrics and sketches, making modifications and alterations. Then I do my own things. At one every day Gianni and I meet for lunch at his house. Then we go back to work. At night, I go home, watch cartoons, put the children to bed, and after that if I have to do something else, I'll do it. I take care to spend time with the children.

G.W.The Versace name continues to blaze. You are now ensconced here at Casa Casuarina, and when the Versace Jeans Couture boutique opened in South Beach it did $10,000 worth of business in the first hour!

D.V. We are very excited, and we've put so much effort into this, because it's not easy to carry on all this and to keep pushing forward. It is a risk all the time, but we like that.

G.W.The House of Versace is known for innovation. After all, it is credited with the supermodel phenomenon.

D.V. That's true. We put Cindy Crawford, Linda Evangelista, and Christy Turlington on the runway, and pretty soon they were big.

G.W.Which girls do you think are next in line for the title of world supermodel?

D.V. I love Bridget Hall. I think that she is going to be a big star. And I like Amber Valletta a lot.

G.W.You have a gorgeous husband, Paul Beck, and two beautiful children, Allegra and Daniel. From the day they were born, they were probably dressed in Versace.

D.V. They were always dressed in Versace. Allegra, she was out in the park at one month old in a whole outfit full of lace, everything embroidered.

G.W.Allegra must be a real little princess!

D.V. She likes to wear good clothes, but she is not spoiled. I was told as a little girl to understand the value of everything, so I was not too spoiled, either.

G.W.Do you realize that you are a very important woman in the world of fashion?

D.V. No. I don't look at myself as important in the world.

G.W.You are, however, very much into the rock 'n' roll scene.

D.V. I do know a lot of rock stars. The first one I met was Elton John, and now we are very close. Now one of my favorite rock-star friends is Axl Rose. People think Axl is a troublemaker, but he is such a sweet person. And then of course I see a lot of Sting. He and Trudie have three children the same age as mine, so we see them a lot.

G.W.So when is Versace going to introduce a fragrance called Donatella?

D.V. That's a good question, because Gianni wants to do that! We are considering doing a new fragrance, and he wants to call it Donatella.

G.W.Tell me another project the House of Versace has in the pipeline that has never been revealed.

D.V. We want to do something pretty different in the new year, especially regarding the fashion shows and the way the fashion shows are done. The problem is we have so many people copying us, and stuff arriving in shops before we can. So we have to look at a totally new way to present the collection. It will be a big difference for sure.