Fashion icon Donatella Versace had to wriggle herself free after getting stuck in a lift on her way to an event.

In a video on TMZ, several people can be seen wrestling with the elevator door, before the Italian fashion designer manages to squeeze out.

She was appearing at an LGBT event in Los Angeles, where she was named the LA LGBT Center’s first global ambassador.

“It’s so emotional for me”, Versace said later at the event, “but also because I was stuck in the elevator.”

“I thought I was never going to make it to this roof, but I did,” the 68-year old joked in her speech.

It took at least four people to hold open the elevator doors to allow Versace and several other people to escape the lift.

“Ladies first… oh my god!” she can be heard saying as she squeezes through the gap.

The fire department and at least four fire fighters arrived on the scene shortly afterwards, to the entertainment of onlookers.

The LA LGBT Center is an organisation which provides programmes and services to the LGBTQ+ community in Los Angeles and beyond.

Co-hosting the event with Versace was former NBA star Dwayne Wade, whose daughter Zaya is transgender.

“We stand with our daughter,” Wade said. “We stand with our community. We speak loud. We speak proud.”