Allegra Versace, daughter of Donatella and niece of the late Gianni, recently sat down with Italy's La Repubblica to discuss what she's been up to these days. The 25-year-old, who inherited 50 percent of the Versace fashion empire when she turned 18, has been dabbling in the design world, spending more and more time in the studio. She's joined the Board of Directors of Versace and is becoming more involved in the company, at the request of her mother.
And what about making a name for herself in fashion, when she already has the last name Versace? Allegra told Natalia Aspesi:
Definitely, I still prefer the anonymity. I've spent some time working with a non-Italian designer, I've been helping him organize fashion shows, the advertising, also helping with the creative part. But the great part about this work is that I am no one! They pay me, also, of course, for now not enough to live without worries, but I think you can get used to everything, if you feel free, if you are yourself and not what others want you to be, if you don't see a photographer around every corner, if you do not bury yourself in cruel gossip that does so much harm.
Speaking of, Allegra was constantly the topic of cruel gossip, growing up for some time in the U.S. where she was studying, but also treating her much-talked-about anorexia. She said:
"I call this my period of absence, I was lost in other thoughts and couldn't confront reality, with my eyes shielded from everything. Above all, I wanted one thing -- to be no one, to not be recognized, not be hunted down. I studied theater, and it pleased me greatly to play parts in little independent films that perhaps no one went to see. For example, I really loved 'Little Miss Sunshine.' Still, anywhere I went, I was Versace. I couldn't escape, and it did me harm. I hated Los Angeles. However I did have beautiful moments. For example, when I was in New York, Rupert Everett played in Noel Coward's 'Blithe Spirit,' and I, behind the scenes, acted invisibly as a dresser."
(Via WWD.com, all translations by us)