Author Sara Gay Forden reviews the deadly story behind ‘House of Gucci’ ahead of Dubai visit

The murder of Italian businessman and former head of the Gucci fashion house Maurizio Gucci on March 27, 1995, was an explosive event in the fashion world and one of the journalists following the story at the time had an especially keen interest in the case.

Sara Gay Forden had been in Milan covering the Italian fashion scene for more than 15 years, chronicling the stories of major labels such as Versace, Armani and Ferragamo — and of course, Gucci. She was particularly interested in Maurizio, and ended up reporting on his murder, the investigation and the trial that would eventually convict his ex-wife Patrizia Reggiani for hiring the hitman who shot the businessman on the steps of his office.

“I got interested in the Gucci story mostly because of Maurizio Gucci, who was the last Gucci to run the company. He had the vision to turn Gucci around from being kind of an overexposed company where it was known for toilet kits with GG logos and coffee mugs and key chains,” Forden told Gulf News over a Zoom interview in January. “He wanted to bring it back to the pinnacle of the luxury goods market and make it kind of on a par with Hermes in France. So that’s kind of what captivated me about the story.”

The larger-than-life events inspired her book, ‘The House of Gucci: A Sensational Story of Murder, Madness, Glamour, and Greed’, which she started working on in 1998 during the trial. The book was eventually released in 2000 and told the wild but real-life story of the cunning Patrizia, her marriage to Maurizio that his father didn’t approve of, and the eventual breakdown of ties between Maurizio and his family. In 2021, it was adapted into a movie directed by Ridley Scott, starring a top-notch cast of Adam Driver, Lady Gaga, Jared Leto, Jeremy Irons, Salma Hayek and Al Pacino.

Forden will give audiences in Dubai more details about her Gucci experience during one of two sessions at the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature. Ahead of her visit to the city on February 11 and 12, we get the lowdown on how she researched and wrote the book, and her thoughts on the movie.

What was your involvement in the making of the movie ‘House of Gucci’?

So I wrote the book 20 years ago when I was working in Milan. I was the bureau chief and business correspondent for Women’s Wear Daily. I was covering the fashion industry kind of day in and day out... So I worked on the story for about two years — the research, the writing, the interviewing. I was in the courthouse for the trial, which lasted for five months. I covered the ins and outs of the financial takeover battle.

I really felt that it deserved to be a movie. I mean, there was such a dramatic story and there were so many scenes like the motorcycle scene where Luigi the driver tips off Maurizio that the financial police are coming to raid his [office] — in the book it says his office, not his home. And Luigi tells him to go down to the basement and jump on his Kawasaki and ride like a bat out of hell three hours to St Moritz... To me that was a scene out of a James Bond.

As you were writing this book, did you think people were going to wonder, ‘did this really happen?’ It’s so dramatic!

It’s a real case for ‘facts are stranger than fiction’. You know, I’ve often said, if I had made this up and sort of done it like a ‘loosely based’ [book], people wouldn’t have believed it. Actually, I deeply researched it and all the facts are true. So yes, Paolo [Maurizio’s cousin] did release the documents that ended up sending his father [Aldo] to jail in the States for tax evasion. Yes, Aldo and Paolo did expose Maurizio for forging his father’s signature on the share certificates. And yes, Patrizia did hire a hitman to kill Maurizio. So these are extraordinary acts by members of the same family. I felt as I was writing it, that it really was a movie. I wrote many of the scenes with the idea in my mind that I could see them on a big screen.

What goes into researching and working on such an intense story that took place so many years ago when there wasn’t the internet we have now?

It was very labour intensive. So I did a lot of interviews; I interviewed over 100 people. And I interviewed people who were both in the family but also people who’d worked very closely with the family... [in] family businesses many times people kind of feel like they’re part of the family and they’re very loyal so they stayed for many years. I interviewed people who worked in the factories and people who worked in the stores, and people who worked on the licences.

For example, as you said, pre-internet: one of my sources was Logan Bentley, who Aldo hired in Rome. She was an American woman living in Rome and he hired her as their first PR. [Aldo] was one of the first people to bring marketing and public relations concepts to fashion. She had saved clippings... she had a whole file cabinet full of clippings. And I remember I went to her home one day... and she had all the clippings on her kitchen table and she had files and she had labels and we sat there and we put all these clippings into files and organised them and she gave them to me.

She was like my pre-internet database for all of the coverage of Gucci. The other key source for a lot of the information actually came through the lawsuits, because once these family conflicts went into court then they became part of a public record.

Were there any moments that stood out for you during the writing of the book?

I thought it was important to get to the people who were the closest to Maurizio because he was the person who drew me into the book in the first place... One was his driver, Luigi, and one was a secretary, Liliana. They were very careful. They didn’t want to be part of a sensational story. But they cared a lot about him and his vision. And eventually, they felt comfortable enough with me that they agreed to let me interview them. So that was really special.

What drew you to the Gucci family all those years ago?

It was a combination of factors. I felt that Gucci in many ways represented struggles that many Italian families and family businesses were going through. And in a way Gucci was kind of emblematic of bigger issues... so in many ways, it was kind of a vehicle to talk about these big themes on a scale of big family dramas and the big novels. I always knew that I wanted to write a book but I knew that I wasn’t a novelist; I deal with facts. I wanted a story that was a true story and so I felt that this was a true story that actually had the reach and had the drama of like a ‘War and Peace’ kind of story, although I’m not comparing myself at all.

There was some controversy once the film released; some of the family didn’t agree with the movie being made. What were your thoughts on that?

It’s always different to be the people that a story is written about. I respect their lives and their feelings. That said, I did interview several of the family members for the book, and in particular Roberto and Giorgio, who are Maurizio’s cousins. I gave them copies of the galleys [advanced copies] before it was published and they felt that I had done a very fair job of representing the family history, the origins of the brand, the dynamics. And they said they were very pained by the things that happened. So the loss of their company at the hands of Maurizio for them was like a dagger in the heart. The murder of Maurizio by Patrizia took family conflict to an unthinkable level for them.

What were your thoughts on the film and the casting?

I thought it was amazing... I really put my heart and soul into writing this book. It did well, when it first came out; I think it sold about 50,000 copies... but it didn’t really have impact. I think with the calibre of this director Ridley Scott and this star-studded cast it really took the narrative to a whole other level. And when does a writer get to have that kind of talent telling her story?

Did you have a favourite character or portrayal that you felt was really spot on?

I thought Lady Gaga was amazing. But I thought they all were; I thought Jeremy Irons really was the epitome of Rodolfo. Jared Leto’s Paolo... I thought he did an amazing job.

Statistics show that more people are reading now than in past years. Do you feel like the pandemic is encouraging people to read?

I think the pandemic has really brought more people to read. I myself am reading so much more. I read intensively during the day from my work already. And so there was a period where it just was really hard for me to pick up a book at the end of the day or on the weekends. And now I’m like I’m craving it. I think that also there’s so much anxiety out in the world and uncertainty that we really I think need good stories and stories that take us away from what we’re dealing with.

Don’t miss it!

The Emirates Airline Festival of Literature takes place at Habtoor City hotels across the two weekends from February 3 to 13. Sara Gay Forden will host two sessions at the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature. ‘How To Make The Internet Less Evil’ will be held on February 11 from 6-7pm at Al Joud Ballroom 1, Hilton, Al Habtoor City. ‘The House of Gucci: Murder, Madness, Glamour and Greed’ session will be held on February 12 at 3-4pm at Al Habtoor Ballroom, Habtoor Palace, Al Habtoor City. Ticket for each session cost Dh65 and are available online.