Perhaps the biggest challenge is dealing with the fictionalised interpretation of Donatella, which has taken on a life of its own: this version appears as a recurring character on Saturday Night Live, played by Maya Rudolph; it is also embodied by Gina Gershon in the outrageous TV movie House of Versace, in which “Donatella” stashes cocaine in a mascara tube. In January, Ryan Murphy’s American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace will be shown on the BBC. The trailer is violent and flashy and seems to suggest that Gianni knew his murderer – the serial killer Andrew Cunanan – which has never been confirmed. Penélope Cruz, who has often worn Versace, plays Donatella; she has said that she spoke “a little bit” with the designer while preparing. “I needed that conversation,” she said. “I really hope that, when she sees the show, she’s going to be happy.” When I ask Donatella about it today, though, she doesn’t seem happy. “I don’t discuss fiction,” she says. So it is a fiction to you? “It is fiction,” she says, her eyes widening for emphasis.

Fashion, unfiltered: how 2017 became the year of Versace