Di Risio said Versace is finishing up the renovation of its stores to the black and white retail concept. Versace has 83 stores around the world and plans to open about 11 this year, including several stores in Asia and its first in Costa Mesa, Calif.

The ceo declined to release a financial forecast for the current year, but said that business is stable and he sees no sign of a slowdown.

"I hope this state of equilibrium continues," he said.

Versace is also bolstering its management team. In January, a new chief financial officer, Massimo Sala, started at the company. A former executive at airport authority Aeroporti di Roma, Sala replaces Daniele Ballestrazzi, who will now oversee special projects at Versace.

Meanwhile, Versace's biggest shareholder, Allegra Beck Versace, is facing her own set of challenges. A flurry of media reports about Beck's health circulated in newspapers and on gossip sites this week, prompting Beck's parents, Donatella Versace and Paul Beck, to issue a statement about their daughter's long battle with anorexia.

The statement said that Donatella Versace and Paul Beck "wish to make it clear that their daughter Allegra is not at the present time a patient in a hospital of any type, but is residing at her private address and her state of health is stable."

Beck owns 50 percent of the company. Donatella Versace owns 20 percent and Santo Versace owns 30 percent.