After a year on Planet Chromatica, Lady Gaga has made a welcome return to earth. More specifically, she’s followed her Oscar-nominated turn in A Star Is Born with a role in House of Gucci, taking on the part of Italian socialite Patrizia Reggiani in Ridley Scott’s ’90s-set Lady Gucci biopic. As the talented polymath appears on the cover of British Vogue’s December 2021 issue, here’s everything that’s been revealed so far about the fashionable production.
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The trailers are packed with power suits and transformative performances
The first teaser, dropped in July and set to Blondie’s “Heart of Glass”, is a decadent paean to ’80s excess that gives a sense of the truly sensational wardrobe viewers can expect from the film. Also of note: the surreal transformation of Jared Leto into Paolo Gucci courtesy of a body suit and facial prosthetics.
A second trailer, released on 28 October, is considerably darker – depicting the power struggles between Patrizia and Maurizio Gucci that blighted their marriage from the start as well as Patrizia’s first meeting with a hitman after Maurizio left her. Her simple instructions as she hands him a pistol? “Don’t miss.” Also of note: the glimpse of Reeve Carney in character as Tom Ford shortly after the one-minute mark.
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The plot is based on an unbelievable true story
A quick fashion history recap. In 1972, Patrizia Reggiani, an Italian socialite, married Maurizio Gucci – the 20-something grandson of Gucci founder Guccio Gucci. Over the course of the next 15 years, the couple had two daughters; fought (and won) a high-profile battle for control of the Gucci brand; and became a fixture in the Italian tabloids, which ran an endless stream of pictures of Reggiani in dark sunglasses and gaudy jewellery, looking like a Milanese Elizabeth Taylor. Lady Gucci, as the press dubbed her, became famous for her extravagance – sailing between private Caribbean islands on her 200-foot yacht, the Creole, or decamping to her penthouse in Manhattan’s Olympic Tower whenever the mood struck. At her wealthiest, she reportedly spent £9,000 a month on orchids alone. Perhaps her most famous diktat? “It’s better to cry in a Rolls-Royce than be happy on a bicycle.”
Then, in the mid-’80s, Maurizio claimed he was going on a short business trip to Florence – only for Reggiani to find out that he had permanently abandoned the family for his younger lover. (She later claimed that the Guccis’ doctor had to break the news to her.) An even worse betrayal, in Reggiani’s eyes? A few years after the couple split, Maurizio sold the Gucci brand to Bahrain-based firm Investcorp for approximately £150 million – a move necessitated by his own failures at the helm of the company. “I still feel like a Gucci – in fact, the most Gucci of them all,” Reggiani told La Repubblica as recently as 2014, to give you a sense of how closely her identity is bound up with the house.
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Cut to 27 March 1995, and a hitman fatally shot the 46-year-old Maurizio in his office lobby near Milan’s fashion district – prompting an investigation into his murder that would take years to resolve (in spite of Reggiani being an immediate suspect). Ultimately, the Black Widow – as the press called her – received a 26-year prison sentence for her role in the death (although she continues to maintain her innocence). She currently lives in Milan, supported by an annual grant from Maurizio’s estate, and can occasionally be seen wandering around the city’s upscale boutiques with her pet macaw, Bo, on her shoulder.
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The cast is awash with Oscar winners and nominees
Gaga will, of course, play Lady Gucci – although Angelina Jolie was notably slated for the role when Martin Scorsese had plans to develop Reggiani’s story for film more than a decade ago. Meanwhile, Adam Driver will take a turn as the ill-fated Maurizio in staggeringly good knitwear, with Jared Leto, Al Pacino, and Jeremy Irons appearing as Paolo, Aldo, and Rodolfo Gucci, respectively. Salma Hayek will also lend her talents to the role of Pina Auriemma, Patrizia’s friend and clairvoyant, who became tied up with her quest for revenge against Maurizio.
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The release date is fast approaching
Filming began in early 2021, with a release date of 26 November 2021 confirmed for the UK. In the meantime, consider reading Sara Gay Forden’s The House of Gucci: A Sensational Story of Murder, Madness, Glamour, and Greed – which screenwriters Becky Johnston and Roberto Bentivegna used as inspiration for the movie.
The December 2021 issue of British Vogue is on newsstands on Friday 5 November
