Dressed To Kill: 'House of Gucci' is Narrated Through it's Fashion

 

The Gucci's hit the slopes

Without wanting to give too much away of the plot line (although I am sure you’re well aware of the highly publicised story), House Of Gucci follows the marriage of Patrizia Reggiani and Maurizio Gucci, the heir to Guccio Gucci’s fashion house. 

In 1985, after 12 years of marriage, Gucci traded in Reggiani for a younger woman and in 1995 was assassinated by a hired hitman on the steps of his office in Italy. The film is based on the lead-up to the trial of Reggiani, who was accused and imprisoned following the murder.

Tabloids across the world were enthralled and Reggiani became known as the “Black Widow”. Reggiani served 18 years behind bars before being released in 2016 on good behaviour.

Lady Gaga and the real Patrizia Reggiani

"Father, son, and House of Gucci." The famous scene from the film's trailer shows Lady Gaga's performance as Patrizia Reggiani crossing herself irreverently, giving us a taste of things to come. Ridley Scott's highly-anticipated film release has drawn in international audiences far broader than just fashion history buffs. A heady mix of '70s glamour and '80s drama accessorizes the shocking reveal of an all-too-accurate demise within Italy's infamous Gucci family portrayed by Adam Driver, Jared Leto, Al Pacino, among others. But nearly as notable as their acting was the work of Janty Yates, House of Gucci's esteemed costume designer.

Closely collaborating with Gaga to ensure an accurate style depiction of Patrizia, Yates drew from Gucci's well-guarded archive collection and various vintage looks worn by the murderess in real life. Classic logo-mania G's meet culturally accurate Italian designs from the '60s and of course—a mass of fur.

Patrizia and Paolo Gucci coordinate in matching pinks

Yates created the exclusive world of Gucci from a mix of custom builds, vintage (including pieces loaned from Gaga's own collection, and costume house rentals.

In the film, the costuming plays an important role in showing the narrative arcs of the characters. Lady Gaga’s Patrizia, whom Scott modelked after Italian actor Gina Lollobrigida, begins the film in feminine dresses and sweater sets, presenting a sweet and demure style in the early days of her courtship with Maurizio. Gaga informed Yates she envisaged early Patricia as dressing like her own mother -  100% Italian - classic rather than raunchy. However, the Patrizia, determined to marry into Milan’s elite social circles, is far from demure. Yates says she tried to convey this ambiguity in a scene where Patrizia wears a figure-hugging dress and heels to work at her father’s truck company, much to the pleasure of her father’s employees.

Early demure Patrizia was based on Gina Lollobrigid

“We wanted to show her in a far more naive and innocent look, when she’s seducing Maurizio,” Yates says. “She looks so sweet and innocent, but she does wear that va-va-voom green dress with high heels when she’s going to work and she knows the effect it has on the drivers of her father’s business. She’s not without guile.”

For the wedding dress scene, the dress was constructed by cutter Dominic Young and his team. Yates made two wedding dresses: One was made last minute to match the simple Gucci gown the real Patrizia wore, whereas the second option conjurs up romantic fairytale imagery with a voluptuous silhouette and sweetheart neckline. “Literally, on the day we tried both on and everybody was in the trailer for this—my assistants, her assistants, hair and makeup, her manager—and basically it was a shoo-in,” she says. They said yes to the second dress as it captures the authentically happy period in Patrizia and Maurizio’s relationship. “It looked so beautiful. She looked pretty, naive, and lovely,” adds Yates.

Patrizia marries into the Gucci clan

Patrizia's style grows more lavish and flashy once she marries into the Gucci family, reflecting her new life of affluence. Patrizia in real life was renowned for her ostentatious ensembles and, in particular, her fondness of wearing a lot of outlandish fine jewellery, which Yates feels was crucial in making Gaga's appearances for the film look believable.

Yates trawled through Gucci's archival looks to dress Gaga

“Anyone who wants to dress like Patrizia would have to wear the jewels,” she said. “It was the jewels that really did seal it. You know, she’d have big earrings and lots of necklaces instead of a subtle, tasteful approach.”

Patrizia ignored the famous Coco Chanel adage about taking one thing off before leaving the house: “She [Patrizia] wore a huge amount of jewellery and LG was up for that. She'd always put on two necklaces when one wasn't enough, she'd wear four bangles, and the biggest earrings she could find,” Yates says. As with the garments, there are no repeats when it comes to accessories and the jewellery rental house in Rome had a wide selection to match the demand. “I had something like 20 trays of jewellery we would put out every day for her to select,” she recalls. “Then they would go away into storage with the outfits, which she never wore again.” On most projects, accessories are picked on the day the scene is shot, but the fitting process for Gucci took so long because “we would fine-tune it for each earring, each pair of shoes, each bag, each belt. Everything would be accessorized to the last drop, as it were,” Yates says. 

Accessorise, accessorise, accessorise

While Gaga's Patrizia is infatuated with all things Gucci, Yates discovered that the real-life Patrizia preferred to wear other big name brands of the day such as Yves Saint Laurent throughout her time as Lady Gucci. At the time Patrizia was living the jet set life as Maurizio's wife, the  Gucci brand was more well-known for their accessories and leather goods , and their clothing was more sedate; to communicate this, Yates relied on cutter Dominic Young, who custom made costumes that resembled YSL dresses and Chanel suits of the time.

Along with offering free reign into her own collection of clothing, Gaga, in keeping with the Gucci's opulent lifestyle, insisted on no costume repeats. In 54 script days Gaga's character had a total of 65 costume changes.

Maurizio Gucci's aesthetic is less over-the-top and more sophisticated suits, mirroring his rise to power in the family business. Adam Driver had almost just as many changes in playing Maurizio—Yates created 40 suits with help of a Savile Row tailor and the Italian brand Zegna, ranging from more staid grey and navy suits for his earlier days to more luxurious velvet styles for his later years, as Maurizio takes control of the Gucci brand.

Adam Driver, Jared Leto and Lady Gaga

In addition to dressing the Gucci family, Yates was in charge of demonstrating how the Gucci brand evolved over the course of the film, creating looks that ranged from the brand's sophisticated but traditional presentation at the start of the film to its ultra-sexy reinvention under Tom Ford's creative direction at the end. While the film focuses on the demise of the House of Gucci, concluding with the family's departure from the company they founded, Yates believes the family's legacy is represented in Gucci's ability to reinvent itself and persevere, enduring in popularity to this day

“You’ll never see Billie Eilish wearing anything else but Gucci,” she says. “Look at Harry Styles, everyone is drenched in Gucci from head to toe.”