Italy - Milan - The Versaec family deny having canceled the auction intending to sell Versace's personal clothes and donate the proceeds to charity.

The Versace group, which is run by Gianni's brother Santo and his sister Donatella, put forward a statement contradicting D'Amico's explanation of why the auction had been canceled.

"We didn't oppose it, not as a company and not as a family," He said.

The maison noted that, with the cooperation of Milan city hall, a series of initiatives had been organised to mark the anniversary of Versace's death.

These included the performance of a special ballet by French choreographer Maurice Bejart at La Scala on July 15, the date of Versace's death.

Born in Reggio Calabria on the toe of Italy, Versace founded the world famous fashion house in 1978 and within 10 years had made it a name which rivaled that of fellow Italians Armani, Valentino and Gucci.

Versace was often in the public eye and never hid his homosexuality. He lived openly with D'Amico, who was also the designer of the Versace sport line.

D'Amico, who now has another partner, lives on Lake Garda where he runs a restaurant. He also continues to design stage costumes and to devise stage shows and TV programmes.

When he announced the sale of Gianni's clothes last month, he said it might not be viewed well by the designer's family. But he insisted it would be for the good. "All I have left now are sweet memories and I want to celebrate Gianni in a way that he would have liked," he said.