It was 21 years ago that I became editor at Marie Claire and discovered a new explosive book. It was filled with murder! You must hit men! Ski resorts The best of both worlds: Palazzos, prosecco It also featured beautiful Italian clothing.
It also featured the Gucci dynasty which was one of the largest advertisers in my magazine.
However, it was impossible to miss the tale of how Patrizia, an Italian socialite was convicted in 1995 of plotting the murder of her ex husband, Maurizio, who was the head of the fashion house.
The House Of Gucci: a Sensational Story Of Murder. Madness. Glamour. and Greed. Gucci would be furious I was told.
Explosive book The House Of Gucci: A Sensational Story Of Murder, Madness, Glamour, and Greed, has been made into a film starring Adam Driver as Maurizio alongside Lady Gaga as Patrizia. Lady Gaga and Adam
Italian fashion designers are well-known for their generosity. A holiday off Capri on a yacht courtesy of Tod’s. Alberta Ferretti was able to provide me with any outfit that I wanted straight off the runway. Prada handbags were delivered to my suite in the hotel. However, they can be notoriously delicate.
Gucci didn’t even make any protests after the book excerpt was released. After the book extract was published, Gucci did not voice any objections. I let out a huge sigh. That is, until Christmas, when my oddly shaped gift from the brand’s creative director, Tom Ford, arrived. The wrapper was torn off. It was… a lilo made of wicker? It was so strange. My executive editor’s hand shot to her mouth dramatically. ‘Gucci wants you to drooooowwwwn!’ she exclaimed.
Gucci was a great example of humor. It was not like most luxury brands. However, it was mischievous under American Ford’s leadership, which reigned between 1994 and 2004 and revived its fortunes and image. Remember, it was he who launched the advert depicting a woman’s pubic hair shaved into the iconic G logo. It is possible that the Pope fell to his knees.
I was so upset by the book, it has been turned into a movie. It premiered this week. Lady Gaga is Patrizia while Adam Driver plays Maurizio. Al Pacino exudes expansively in the role of Aldo Gucci (chairman of the company between 1953 and 1986).
The film features the aforementioned fantastic clothes — Oscar-winning costume designer Janty Yates had the enviable task of choosing garments from the extensive archive, as well as Gaga’s own Italian grandmother’s clothes. Warning: There is fur.
As A fan of what I think is the greatest brand in the world, the film also has a line of dialogue that resonates with me: ‘Gucci is like a cake. You have a taste and you want more and then you’ll want the whole thing for yourself.’
Whereas Dior and Chanel are elitist, Prada cerebral, Alexander McQueen difficult and arty, and Dolce & Gabbana way too over the top, Gucci was — and is — the label for women who want to look feminine and quietly sexy.
Liz Jones, who is a former editor of Marie Claire, said Gucci was — and is — the label for women who want to look feminine and quietly sexy. Pictured: Lady Gaga as Patrizia
‘There is no doubt who the Gucci woman is: the embodiment of sexual confidence, burnished to a high gloss and bursting with predatory power,’ trumpeted Vogue of the 2004 catwalk show. It was a look no grown-up career woman could resist then, and still can’t now.
My most vivid memories of fashion’s front row over the last 25 years have been at Gucci, particularly under Ford. Every season of his shows would have you wanting to redecorate your closet and reinvent yourself. His innovations were so revolutionary. His farewell collection featured silk tracksuit bottoms that he sent down the catwalk. It was the beginning of athleisure. He gave us pyjamas as evening wear.
He elevated the simple pair of jeans from a basic to a luxury item for spring/summer 1999. This show is the one that I remember best. The models wore jeans with embroidery and jewels. The collection made a mockery of the dull, monotonous 1990s by Helmut Lang et all. The front row had one woman wanting a pair.
A Gucci runway outfit from that season — embellished jeans, little ruffled jacket — now sells for £14,000. I really wish I hadn’t put my Tom Ford denim in a hot wash.
The Gucci outfit that I love the most? Kate Moss in spring 2001, with her asymmetrical blonde hair, wearing a corset under a black sheer curtain and white boots. That dress is still my favorite. It was amazing how hot it looked.
The bags were just as amazing as the clothes. Gucci was a humble luggage designer when he started his career. Guccio Gucci had seen the bags he saw when he arrived at London’s Savoy hotel. There he worked as a bellboy and thought he could make better luggage. In 1921, he opened his first store in Florence.
Liz said her favourite Gucci look of all time is Kate Moss, with an asymmetric blonde bob, in a corset dress (pictured)
These bags, with their unique diamond pattern as well as red-and green striped webbing make me think of school uniforms and the girths that go on saddles.
Bamboo handles quickly became a trademark. Liz Taylor wore hers in 1950s.
The Jackie bag is still in production today, while Carrie Bradshaw frequently toted a Gucci: the ‘I love NY’ bag, the large ‘Joy’, the fanny pack…
Gucci Diana was created in 1991. It quickly became a favorite of Princess Diana. The bag was relaunched in July this year, with a neon strap designed to help it keep its shape: a small tote is £2,520.
This brings me to Gucci’s main reason for its success, despite the fact that many labels have failed. Its customer’s quality. Gucci has managed to remain a label for those ‘in the know’. It’s subtle.
The Fendi baguette created queues when it launched, but Gucci lovers don’t do queues. Louis Vuitton bags are ubiquitously seen on luggage trolleys. Versace is too obvious with its safety pins, palm trees and leather holdalls. Comparing Versace to Gucci would be likening Hollyoaks to Succession.
Gucci products are high-quality. The loafers I purchased at Milan’s flagship 22 years back still have their red trimming at the heels. Gucci doesn’t date; I still wear its brown silk ‘hanky’ skirt from 2003. The stretchy white shirt I bought in New York for £350 would still get me a pay rise were I to wear it to the office.
Gwyneth paltrow was wearing a ruby-red velvet suit made by Tom Ford for Gucci in 1996 when she attended the MTV Awards. Last Tuesday, she turned up for Gucci’s 100th birthday celebrations in Los Angeles wearing only a slightly updated version of the very same schmatter. The sharp and current lean tailoring looks great a quarter century later. That is a claim not many other labels can make.
Liz explained that Liz was certain it wasn’t a coincidence that House Of Gucci films will be released on Black Friday. It is one of the busiest shopping days in the world. Pictured: Patrizia Reggiani
In 2004, Gucci was bought by Pinault-Printemps-Redoute (now Kering). Tom Ford was out — hardened glossy editors were seen weeping — to be replaced by Frida Giannini: all very tasteful and low key. Now we have Alessandro Michele, the creative director who is a pioneer in fashion-defying creativity.
For spring 2020, he sent down a topless model. Models were put in straitjackets by him: hint, it’s insane to spend that much. Slip dresses are made by him, with the cut down as far as the navel. He is without doubt, according to American Vogue, ‘the most influential force in fashion’.
The catwalk show for spring/summer 2022 which, in a stroke of genius, cast Macaulay Culkin, an ‘extended’ or plus-size woman, and gorgeous models of indeterminate sex, showed that Gucci really is now the label of choice for red-carpet showstoppers.
Who doesn’t want gold lame and a silver bodice, with added pom poms?
Michele is also seducing Generation Z’s elite young people: Billie Eilish was seen wearing Gucci at the Bond premiere.
Consequently, he has sent the brand’s fortunes into the stratosphere. Only the pandemic caused a stumble: ‘The Gucci party is postponed’, a financial analyst wrote when the latest figures —sales rose only 3.8 per cent in the third quarter from a year earlier — were released last month.
It’s surely no coincidence that the film, which will spark interest in all things double G, is released here on Black Friday, the biggest shopping day of the year.
With this, I’m ending my Gucci Love Letter. ‘Gucci’ has made it into urban dictionaries as an adjective — it means ‘good, chill, cool, awesome’. We all want to be that, don’t we? You can rest your case.
House Of Gucci opens in cinemas on November 26.