The curse of the Versaces

If you write a drama, then the death of Gianni Versace is the ‘dreamed’ storyline. A powerful rich, extremely successful designer who is friends with the big celebrities and who introduced the phenomenon of supermodels (where models got a name and achieved star status) is murdered by a crazy fan in front of his million dollar mansion in Miami.

Despite all the millions, the Versaces have always had a hard life where ‘sudden death’ occurred more often.

Gianni was born as the third child after his sister Fortunata, Tina, Versace, his brother Santo, and his younger sister Donatella. In poor Calabria in Southern Italy, their mother earned a living as a seamstress and designer. Gianni watched her operate the sewing machine for hours and at the age of ten, he designed his first dress.

The first drama in the family occurred when Gianni was six and his big sister was twelve. Their parents had taken her to a fair and an innocent fall meant her end. She contracted tetanus and was treated in the hospital with the wrong medication.

Donatella always felt like the replacement for her deceased sister. A second place position that she also took on when her brother Gianni was murdered and she had to lead the empire.

Where Donatella flourished as her brother's muse (with whom she moved in when he worked in Milan for Valentino and later started his own brand), she felt uninteresting and insignificant after his death. ‘Who is waiting for a unstable sister?’ she once told the New Yorker. She developed a ‘hard and cold’ alter ego out of self-protection and fled into drugs. It wasn't until 2004 that she went to a rehab clinic. The reason? Her children.

Because it's family first with the Versaces, otherwise they would have surely wanted to sell the company after Gianni's death. But the company was family, and family, you don't sell.

The strange thing about the inheritance
Fate has it that Gianni suffered from ear cancer shortly before his death. Not necessarily terribly serious, but he had indeed drawn up his will. 30 percent of the shares went to Santo, 20 percent to Donatella, and 50 percent to his eleven-year-old niece Allegra, the daughter of Donatella. An inheritance that shaped the little girl. Because placing the pressure of a million-dollar empire on the shoulders of an eleven-year-old is heavy.

According to Donatella, it was also a ‘trick’ of Gianni, this arrangement. In this way, Donatella would remain with the company until Allegra turned 18 (then she would receive the shares) and she would have to continue designing. Something she was also particularly talented at.

Allegra's little brother inherited the complete art collection of Gianni, including two Picassos. Not that you think he was overlooked.

Allegra struggled with her inheritance. She desperately wanted to study in America and work ‘anonymously’ with other designers. She presented herself under her father's last name: Beck. Just a little less of a household name than Versace.

Allegra's appearance (skinny and with deep bags under her eyes) caused an uproar in the press. It even went so far that the Versaces wrote a letter to all fashion editors (I received one too) denying that Allegra had even a hint of anorexia and that any speculation in that direction would mean a lawsuit. A few years later, there was another statement: Allegra would receive the best possible treatment for anorexia.

In the meantime, Allegra has jumped on the Versace train and Santo and Donatella sold the company for two billion with a share package of 176 million included. Hopefully, they manage to find a bit of calm.