Versace.

The very name conjures up images of outrageous glamour and bold sexuality, opulence and daring. Do most gays love Gianni Versace, or is it just me?

My partner and I even have his Medusa tattooed on our backs! Seriously!  

I remember when he died. Within an hour of his death, I got a call from a jewelry designer in Miami. He told me Gianni had  just been shot! I could not believe it.

House of Versace:
 The Untold Story of Genius, Murder, and Survival
is the first American book about the legendary designer, since his death, July 1997. The  book shows how Gianni Versace, with his flamboyant sister Donatella at his side, combined his virtuosic talent and extraordinary ambition to almost single-handedly create the celebrity culture we take for granted today. 

Gianni Versace was at the height of his creative powers when he was murdered in Miami Beach. The story was front page news around the world and the manhunt for his killer a media obsession.

His beloved sister Donatella demanded no less than a funeral befitting an assassinated head-of-state to be held in Milan’s magnificent cathedral. In what was the ultimate fashion show, the world’s rich and beautiful – Princess Dianna, Elton John, Carla Bruni, Naomi Campbell, Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy, Anna Wintour and others – gathered to mourn a man already considered one of fashion’s great pioneers. 

Author Deborah Ball, a long-time Milan correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, conducted hundreds of interviews with Versace family members, Gianni Versace’s lovers and business rivals, models such as Naomi Campbell whom he helped shoot to international stardom and fashion industry icons, including Anna Wintour, the legendary editor of Vogue. 


Ball vividly recounts the behind-the scenes struggles – both creative and business – of Donatella as she stepped out of her brother’s long shadow and took control of the House of Versace. The book offers the first inside look at the enormous challenges Donatella faced in living up to Gianni’s genius, her struggle with a drug habit, her battles with her brother Santo and the mystery of why Gianni left control of his house to Donatella’s young daughter, Allegra.

ELTON JOHN reportedly staged an intervention for Donatella at her daughter Allegra's 18th birthday party, following frightening and unpredictable behavior on the part of the designer.

Donatella  spiraled deeper into addiction following the death of her brother, Gianni, who was murdered by spree killer Andrew Cunanan in 1997. Following John's intervention, Versace flew to Arizona rehabilitation facility The Meadows, where she received treatment for her substance abuse issues.

House of Versace is a compelling, highly readable tale of rise from obscurity, a painful fall and ultimate redemption as the Versace empire returned to health – for now. 


Bringing together fashion, celebrity, business drama, jet-set lifestyles, and a notorious crime, House of Versace is an old-fashioned page-turner about a subject of enduring fascination.

House of Versace: The Untold Story of Genius, Murder, and Survival


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