Born in Italy · Nationality Italian — Fashion / design and creative direction

Donatella Versace

Arts, letters and intellectuals Business and billionaires

Italian fashion designer born in 1955, former chief creative officer of Versace.

Donatella Versace led the fashion house’s creative direction for nearly three decades. During her tenure, the brand faced criticism for using animal fur and skins before changing course, and for a T-shirt depicting Hong Kong and Macau as separate countries. Its sale to Michael Kors in 2018 also drew criticism from fans, without any known personal conviction.

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Profile No. 5878 · Updated on 6 November 2026

1Documented controversy

1Source

0Formal charge · all time

0Conviction

§ Legal statuses reflect the documented sources as of the date shown; they replace neither court decisions nor the presumption of innocence. Counts are not a rating. Methodology

I. Documented controversies

August 2019

2019: Apology over a T-shirt referring to Hong Kong and Macau

No legal proceedings

Versace sold a T-shirt whose city-country list treated Hong Kong and Macau as separate countries, prompting a strong backlash in China. Actress Yang Mi ended her collaboration with the label. Donatella apologised personally and the company withdrew and destroyed the garments.

State of the evidence: The product, public apology and withdrawal are documented by Reuters.
Legal status — source text: No personal proceedings identified as of the research date.
Attribution: Geopolitical mislabelling on a product from the fashion house she led creatively.

Sources · 1

[1]
CBS NewsVersace and Coach apologize to Chinese consumers after listing Hong Kong as a separate country on t-shirts12 August 2019MediaHigh reliability

Last verified: 6 November 2026

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II. Constellation of documented links

No documented link with another published profile for now.

Two profiles are linked when a documented controversy of one names the other. The link points to that controversy and its sources; it does not indicate a personal relationship.

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Controversia profile, updated 6 November 2026. Latest version: https://controversia.info/en/fiche/donatella-versace