Behind a glamorous facade, family feuds took place at Gucci, on which the fashion company almost broke up. The coveted label rescuers from the outside owes the fact that the brand is in a brilliant position again today.
Florence – In the middle of Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles, creative director Alessandro Michele recently staged his latest Gucci collection under the title “Love Parade”. The location could hardly have been more suitable, because the 100-year history of the company reads like an Oscar-worthy script.
Your darkest chapter has now been filmed by Ridley Scott. “House of Gucci” with Lady Gaga and Adam Driver comes to German cinemas on December 2nd.
In the beginning it was the classic story of the rise of the people: at the end of the 19th century a young man named Guccio Gucci set off from Florence for London to try his luck there. He found a job at the famous Hotel Savoy and was fascinated by the fine luggage of the guests. Back home, he got into the leather goods business himself. In 1921 he opened his first small shop in Florence.
Green-red stripes
And the family followed his passion. His three sons joined the company. Above all, Aldo Gucci, the oldest, drove the development forward. So he introduced a Gucci symbol that is still valid today: the green and red stripes that go back to saddle girths.
In 1947 a bag with a bamboo handle came on the market, which would become another trademark. Until a Gucci shoe finally made a status symbol at the end of the 1960s: a loafer with a horse bit clip over the instep. The third generation of the family was already active in the company.
From then on it got ugly. One argued, intrigued, litigated, disinherited. And that continuously and in front of the public. Sara Gay Forden traces in great detail how toxic this family feud was in her 2001 biography “Gucci – Fashion, Murder and Business”.
At the beginning of the 80s, Maurizio Gucci, a grandson of the company founder, prepared to emerge from the dispute as a new, strong man. The label’s aura had now faded. An own, cheaper produced bag line had flooded the mass market and the luxury image was scratched. In addition, new names such as Giorgio Armani and Gianni Versace had risen.
Cool sexyness
Maurizio Gucci tackled all of these problems and for the first time in the company’s history brought in management staff and shareholders from outside. But the latter soon turned against him. He, who had previously driven out all family members, now had to sell his shares to the investment company Investcorp himself in 1993. From then on, Gucci existed without a single Gucci.
Tom Ford, a smart Texan, rose from design director to creative director and quickly laid the foundation for a look that drove the fashion world into ecstasy. A cool sexyness, with hipsters, lasciviously opened silk blouses and velvet coats.
He was assisted by Domenico De Sole, a lawyer who had advised Gucci’s family disputes for years and was now CEO.
Maurizio Gucci no longer lived to see this hype. When he was about to enter his Milan office on the morning of March 27, 1995, he was hit by four bullets. A murder commissioned by his ex-wife Patrizia Reggiani, who was sentenced to 29 years in prison for it. This story is at the center of the feature film “House of Gucci”, which is now opening in theaters.
Hostile takeover
Meanwhile, the company remained true to its reputation of providing material for a thriller even in golden times. In 1999, French luxury giant LVMH set out to incorporate the label into its portfolio in a hostile takeover.
Domenico De Sole then started a defensive battle that cast a spell over the fashion and financial world. When he and Tom Ford left the company five years later in disagreements with their “savior” at the time, the French group PPR (today: Kering), Gucci’s end once again seemed near.
The more pleasing than ingenious collections of the following ten years seemed to confirm this. And nobody would have suspected on January 19, 2015 that this show would be one of these striking turning points again.
All that was known about that Alessandro Michele at the time was that he had been working for Gucci for more than ten years. In five days, the new creative head assured, he had designed his first collection: men who wore bow tie shirts, lace and Persian coats. It was the harbinger of a new era.
Male and female, high and pop culture, Michele (48) no longer thinks in such binary ways. His eclectic, gender-fluid looks are particularly popular with young people. Gucci got a clear identity again. And above all: peace behind the scenes. dpa
