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"    Photo: Getty Images   &amp;quot;Am I sexy?&amp;quot; asks Donatella Versace. The fashion icon does a half-spin and implores her protege, the Scottish design star Christopher Kane, to take visual inventory: trademark platinum hair, massive eyelashes, tight black dress, high stiletto boots. &amp;quot;Am I sexy?&amp;quot; she asks again. &amp;quot;I don&amp;#039;t know!&amp;quot; Of course, the rest of the world does know, and the answer is a resounding &amp;quot;Yes&amp;quot;\u2014after all, her last name has become synonymous with the kind of opulent va-va-voom style that&amp;#039;s created a lucrative fashion empire and a pop culture touchstone. This week, Donatella takes her bombshell aesthetic downtown, opening Versace&amp;#039;s first boutique in Soho, New York. The Mercer Street store was designed by renowned British architect Jamie Fobert,   and includes antique Italian mosaics and state-of-the-art fiberglass walls. &amp;quot;I like the contrast between heritage and modern,&amp;quot; explains Donatella. &amp;quot;That&amp;#039;s my favorite part of the store.&amp;quot; Other notable parts include the exclusive store offerings, including Versace-branded iPhone cases and board games, along with some lust-worthy black heels\u2014the same ones Donatella wore during this interview\u2026 On her favorite items in the new Soho store: For that, I refer to my curator, Christopher Kane [who also designs the Versus line]. Christopher picked everything that should be sold in the Versace Soho store. There is flashy stuff, there is simple stuff, so I say, as long as your style isn&amp;#039;t too simple, buy everything!  On working with Christopher Kane on the Versus label: We fight! [Laughs] No, we never fight. I think he&amp;#039;s afraid of my heels! It&amp;#039;s very easy. We have nice conversations, and one thing I have to tell you about Christopher, he loves women and he loves women&amp;#039;s bodies. We talk about being mature\u2014sometimes we can get carried away with the latest influences, and that&amp;#039;s important. Versus was my first collection that Gianni gave to me to do, so it&amp;#039;s important to always remain true to the original style. On collaborating with handsome men like Kane and Fobert: Let&amp;#039;s just say beauty inspires me. But I like all beauty\u2014I think it really comes from the inside out. What you&amp;#039;ll find in her iPod: I really like Grimes right now, because her sound isn&amp;#039;t uptight and it is not perfect, but that&amp;#039;s what I love about it. I think she should wear Versus clothing. And I like Beth Ditto! She is so talented. She is glamorous and confident about her body. Beth Ditto is a natural. On Lady Gaga: What is to tell about her? She&amp;#039;s fabulous. She&amp;#039;s fearless. She dares. She&amp;#039;s the limit. She&amp;#039;s completely fearless and artful\u2026it was so easy to talk to her, and she gets everything\u2014she just gets it. You can like her or you can leave her, but she&amp;#039;s just phenomenal. On her next steps: Oh next, I want to sing. I want to start my own band! I want to rap! Like Nicki Minaj [Laughs] No! I have a project coming up, but I cannot talk about it today, because it&amp;#039;s not the right time. But I think websites are so important, and that&amp;#039;s the future of fashion, certainly. Everyone can see the collection, because of the website, so I&amp;#039;ve been thinking a lot about how we can do something different with the website. What she thinks of social media: I love Twitter. I think [Twitter] is one of the most amazing and cool worlds because you can say absolutely anything; there&amp;#039;s nothing to hold you back. On Facebook, people call themselves [Donatella Versace] on Facebook, but that&amp;#039;s not me! On the appropriate time to wear a flat shoe: What&amp;#039;s a flat shoe? [Laughs] Talk to Christopher about that, he was the one who wanted flat shoes in the Versus collection! Her pick for every woman&amp;#039;s must-have item: A pair of black patent-leather leggings. Donatella Versace&amp;#039;s beauty routine: What I do is, I sleep in the freezer. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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