10th Mar 2021
3 minutes
Back in 2019, the oversized Aran knit worn by Chris Evans in Knives Out went viral. Cable knit sweaters sold out everywhere, and Blarney Woollen Mills, the Irish souvenir retailer born in 1823, saw a hundred-and-fifty-per-cent increase in sales of its Blasket Honeycomb Stitch Aran Sweater.
This week, a new release came to take Chris Evans’ reign of most wanted on-screen Aran Knit. Lady Gaga shared a first-look from the upcoming Ridley Scott–produced crime drama House of Gucci, featuring herself dressed every inch like a woman who would hire a hitman on her husband, and Adam Driver enveloped in a thick, braided, delicious turtleneck to rival that of turtleneck royalty in When Harry Met Sally.
This first look at Adam Driver and Lady Gaga as Maurizio Gucci and his wife Patrizia Reggiani, perfectly dressed like the disgracefully rich in skiwear, gaudy jewellery, fur hats and aviators, is instant proof that House of Gucci is going to be a masterpiece.
If you’re not familiar with the story of Signore e Signora Gucci and House of Gucci, it will dramatise the downfall of the Gucci dynasty. Maurizio Gucci, grandson of Gucci founder Guccio Gucci, and his wife Patrizia Reggiani were a fixture in Italian tabloids. Before she became known as the Black Widow, she was branded Lady Gucci by the tabloids, who followed their every extravagant move; she famously spent €10k a month on orchids and said “I would rather weep in a Rolls-Royce than be happy on a bicycle.”
In the 1980s, Maurizio went on a business trip to Florence and Reggiani found out he had left her for a younger lover. She openly threatened to kill him after the split. A few years later, Maurizio sold Gucci to Investcorp, another betrayal to Reggiani, who, as recently as 2014, said “I still feel like a Gucci – in fact, the most Gucci of them all.” Gucci began an exciting new era, helmed by up-and-coming young designer Tom Ford. In March of 1995, 18 months after selling Gucci, Maurizio was shot by a hitman in his office lobby.
The crime went unsolved for almost two years until a tip-off led to Reggiani and the hitman’s arrest in 1997. She received a 26-year prison sentence, served 18 years and maintains her innocence. When she was released from prison, a TV crew asked her, “Patrizia, why did you hire a hitman to kill Maurizio Gucci? Why didn’t you shoot him yourself?”
“My eyesight is not so good,” she said. “I didn’t want to miss.”
House of Gucci is due to be released in November 2021, and will also star Al Pacino, Jared Leto and Jeremy Irons. While you wait, stay cozy in one of fashion’s most enduring trends as House of Gucci ignites a new wave of interest in Ireland’s historic design.
Photography by @ladygaga.