Donatella Versace worked side by side with her brother, Gianni, to help create one of the biggest fashion houses in the world. When her brother was murdered in 1997, Donatella was left to continue Gianni’s legacy. While the new season of American Crime Story will focus on her brother’s death, viewers will also see Donatella’s relationship with Gianni before his death and her impact on the company afterwards. Here, must-know facts about the designer before the premiere of The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story on January 17 on FX.
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When Donatella was 11, Gianni told her to dye her hair blonde, Ingrid Sischy revealed in a book she co-wrote with Donatella called Versace. “Back then Gianni was so obsessed with [Patty] Pravo, an iron-straight-haired ‘blond,’ that he persuaded eleven-year-old Donatella to dye her own hair just like his heroine,” Sischy writes. “They both knew their mother would have a fit, but the adoring younger sister went along with her brother’s invention of her new blond look.”
