Lady Gaga, of all people, utters these words in what seems to be her biggest hit as an aspiring actress, while portraying the terrifying genius behind Gucci: Patrizia Reggiani. Her last name does not even come close to Gucci, but in a metaphorical sense, she has done so much more than the actual Guccis. Â
The Gucci Brand, brought to life by Guccio Gucci, who passed it down to his pathetically petty three sons, later handed it to his even more frivolous grandson, Maurizio Gucci. In the family, blood was never thicker than water, it was crazy that outsiders like Patrizia and eventually Tom Ford, who brought back Gucci’s glory were the ones who truly cared about the brand; Patrizia knew that very well, “I still feel like a Gucci—in fact, the most Gucci of them all.”Â
What does Gucci symbolize? What meanings does it have? It started with a man who worked his whole life in the luxury industry in Italy. Later, his whole legacy was nearly destroyed by his heirs had his daughter-in-law not stepped in. This story of the Gucci family shows how one’s greatest creation should not always be left in the hands of “loved” ones. Â
Patrizia was cunning and manipulative, but she did love Maurizio and wanted the best for him. She knew the other members of the Gucci family were useless and urged him to cut them out. Without the parasites, the brand grew, but so did Maurizio’s ego, leaving no room for his wife and daughters next to him at the top of the fashion world.
In the fashion industry, if you fly too close to the sun, your cashmere wings will wither and drop you to imminent death. Gucci Knows it quite well. By bringing back his childhood friend who was his mistress of course, Maurizio flew too close to the sun. However, Patrizia shot him down like a huntress on a sunny day (not by herself though, her eyesight was terrible and she did not want to miss). She was a genius, but her glorification of outright murder is blood-curling; Nothing more luxuriously sinister than to mark the date of your ex-husband’s death as “paradeisos” in your diary.Â
After Patrizia, Tom Form reinvented Gucci and elevated fashion to the heavens, encouraging fellow luxury brands like Prada, Versace, and Armani to emerge. However, much after it was out of his hands, the brand was distorted again. In order to remain at the top, Gucci was forced to reform most of itself to the tacky and unoriginal style that tasteless “rich” people adore on social media; far from the old money and quiet luxury it was once. Hopefully, someone like Tom Ford will restore the luxury of Gucci, as the brand truly deserves that.Â