On May 2, fashion queen Donatella Versace celebrated her 50th anniversary. Born in Reggio Calabria, one of the poorest areas in southern Italy, she was the youngest of four children of an aplliances salesman and a seamstress who owned her Reggio di Calabria dress salon. After school Donatella enrolled at Florence University to study languages and literature, but was spending more and more at her brother Gianni's studio, and after leaving university in 1979 she started working in his own newly-founded company full time.

In the beginning, her primary role was PR. Donatella was the one who wooed celebrities and photographers and suggested to use well-known models for the runway shows. But soon she had begun designing with her brother and became his muse, critic and consultant. As one New York-based fashion editor close to Donatella said: "Gianni used her. He asked her what women wanted and, unusually for him, he listened to the answers. She was a supportive critic, the only person whose views he really took any notice of."

"If my sister wants to do something, okay," Gianni once told Vanity Fair. "If she doesn't like a sketch, I will cancel it."

By the 90s Donatella was designing for casual wear and accessories line, Versus. It may sound cynical, but if it were not for the tragedy, lady Donatella might have never become the fashion diva she is today. After Gianni was shot to death in front of his South Beach mansion in Miami in July 15, 1997, his sister was the one to take the reins of the whole Versace design house. Though the Spring/Summer '98 collection was cancelled, Donatella did not plan to let everything collapse. Three month later she pulled together a ready-to-wear collection and in the spring of 1998 had her solo debut for the mainline collection. A year and three days after Gianni's death, the deserving successor of her brother, Donatella presented her first couture show for the Versace Atelier in the Paris Ritz. She even built her runway over the hotel's swimming pool that way her brother had done every season, though this time using sheer glass. The show was attended by a host of celebrities and had a huge success. According to close observers of Donatell, the key to success of her solo career is that she has taken Gianni's style, including the bold color palette and the liquid fabrics, and adapted it to the new era.

"I had to do everything. He taught me everything," she reveals once in a documentary.

"Donatella is a different voice," said Claire Wilcox, curator of the V&A exhibition. "Although she is a more extrovert character than Gianni, her work is softer; a more modern femininity. While Gianni was great with big sculptural - almost statuesque - pieces that were in keeping with bold times, she goes for a more organic pattern making that seems right today."

Within just several years, Donatella Versace has turned the Milanese fashion house into a £500 million empire, has built five-star hotels all over the globe, and has been named one of the top five most influential businesswomen in Europe by the Wall Street Journal.

When some criticized her for being too dedicated to Versace, she said: "Fashion is not frivolous. I am a businesswoman. I'm a very serious person."

Donatella is married to former model Paul Beck, although they have been separated for a while. The couple has two children, 19-year-old daughter Allegra, who inherited the most part of Gianni's multi-million dollar estate, including a 45 per cent share in the Versace family business, and son Daniel, five years her junior.