Lady Gaga and Adam Driver on set during the filming of “Gucci’s House” in Como, Italy.
Vittorio Zunino Celotto / GC Images / Getty Images
Vittorio Zunino Celotto / GC Images / Getty Images
Gucci is too familiar with falling in love and falling in love. The Italian label’s relationship with consumers has long traced the bow of wild love, followed by unleashed interest, before a new creative mind rekindled romance.
During these deadlock periods, Gucci does not feel particularly adored. Sales in 2020 fell for the first time in half a dozen years. Consumers who, just a year ago, had complained about Gucci’s maximalist floral designs and geek chic style, suddenly found the strong look unsuitable for the era of home sweatpants or the gloomy aesthetic supported by Yves Saint Laurent or Celine.
Now, a future film about love, revenge and death at “Gucci’s House” promises to provide such a much-needed rise in the year when Gucci turns 100. The film of the same name is based on historical facts, playing the singer Lady Gaga as Patrizia Reggiani, the jilted ex-wife who planned the 1995 murder of her ex-husband, the heir of the Maurizio Gucci family, played by Adam Driver.
Luxurious life
While not an uplifting story, the themes of lust, naughtiness and luxury perfectly capture the industry, he said. Gachoucha Kretz, associate professor of marketing at the HEC Paris business school.
“This movie release is very good for Gucci,” Kretz said. “The brand’s DNA will not be hurt, because it has an exceptional distribution that plays in a biopic full of charm and elegance.”
Then there are the clothes. The release date of November 24 could be many months away, but already filming the film is creating a stir on social media. In one, Driver wears a cream-colored knitted sweater, while Lady Gaga puts on a white fur hat, cascading necklaces over a black jumpsuit adorned with gold buttons, the ensemble pampering almost 47 million Instagram fans.
The star-studded cast also includes Oscar winners Al Pacino, Jeremy Irons and Jared Leto, who appeared in previous Gucci campaigns.
Consumers have long complained about Gucci’s maximalist floral designs, but the pandemic has introduced a lower aesthetic.
Photographer: Pietro S. D’Aprano / Getty Images
The convergence of film, crime and fashion has been around for decades. Giorgio Armani got a major boost in 1980 from “American Gigolo”, where Richard Gere’s color palette and fine lines gave birth to the masculine look of a generation. Gianni Versace’s murder in Florida in 1997 became “The Assassination of Gianni Versace: The Story of American Crime” and aired three years ago.
Dark life
Yves Saint Laurent’s life was transformed into two separate films in 2014, which resumed the rise of the French designer to the international star, as well as his struggles with a self-destructive series and drug addiction. Despite the dark nuances, brand sales have almost tripled over the next five years.
Patrizia Reggiani, who left during Maurizio Gucci’s 1995 murder trial.
Photographer: Luca Bruno / AP Photo
Gucci is not directly involved in the film about the sinister family story, based on the book by Bloomberg journalist Sara Forden, “Gucci’s house: a sensational story of murder, madness, glamor and greed.” Maurizio Gucci himself sold his remaining interest in the brand 1 1/2 years before the murder, for which Reggiani spent 18 years in prison.
But the company has made its archive available to director Ridley Scott, and images that have appeared in public show a parade of plaid coats, polka dot dresses and cream collars on a glamorous background from the old world, from the snowy mountain resort to the shores of Lake How.
Shining a light on the founding family that founded Gucci in 1921 in Florence, Italy, will help the brand polish its credentials with a European customer base, at a time when large consumers in China and the Middle East have stopped visiting. Paris, Rome and London.
Flamboyant style
Gucci’s success, particularly in Asia, helped drive the brand to nearly $ 10 billion ($ 11.8 billion) in revenue in 2019. Under the leadership of CEO Marco Bizzarri and creative director Alessandro Michele, sales doubled between 2015 and 2019.
However, last year’s decline was more pronounced than in other brands in Kering SA stable, as Yves Saint Laurent. Meanwhile, sales at Bottega Veneta have risen, suggesting that consumers may be tired of Michele’s extravagant aesthetics.
Critical acclaim for “House of Gucci” has not yet come, but the fact that Gucci chose not to play a direct role in the project could work in its favor in both directions, said Mario Ortelli, founding partner of luxury consultancy Ortelli & Co. in London.
“If it’s a success, it could ride that wave,” Ortelli said. “If he isn’t, he might want to keep his distance.”