Word: gucci
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Last week her firm announced its intention to become a powerful business force as well. Under the careful eyes of Prada's husband Patrizio Bertelli, its managing director, the firm grabbed 5% of rival fashion house Gucci for a little more than $120 million. The acquisition, akin to Hyundai's biting off a tasty chunk of Honda, had many manicured hands scratching coiffed heads--including some at Gucci's Florentine headquarters, which released a terse statement: "No agreement has been entered into with the Prada group, and no discussions are contemplated. Gucci did not solicit this investment...
...idea of a Prada takeover of Gucci would have seemed risible 20 years ago, when Gucci was among the world's great brands and Prada was a leather-goods firm with a boutique in one of Milan's historic shopping arcades. But since Prada and Bertelli united--in marriage and business--in 1987, they have turned a respectable business into fashion's most watched house. They added footwear, women's ready-to-wear, a younger collection called Miu Miu, menswear, underwear and sportswear. Prada's design sense has made her the most influential designer of the decade, with a ripple...
...Gucci has been on a much hillier path. After years of mismanagement by the Gucci family, the company finally went public in 1995, and its fortunes began to rise like hemlines. With the help of 36-year-old American designer Tom Ford, CEO and president Domenico De Sole transformed Gucci from the butt of jokes about men who wear loafers to a label both Seventh Avenue and Wall Street adore. (Ford's first famous look: velvet hiphuggers and a satin shirt.) Incontrovertible evidence of how far it has come: Helen Hunt wore Gucci to the Oscars this year...
...Gucci's sexy but sleek designs still press all the fashionistas' buttons, but the firm has been buffeted by other ill winds, from the ongoing trial in Italy of Patrizia Gucci (charged with murdering her ex-spouse Maurizio Gucci, grandson of the company's founder) to worries about the fallout from the Asian financial crisis. Last September, when De Sole announced that profits growth for 1997 would be lower than expected, Gucci stock plummeted almost 20% in one day. Sure enough, the company announced last week that this year's first-quarter net profit had dropped 10% from last year...
...sling-back clad feet. After all, Indochine, 147, The Four Seasons, Life and the Soho Grand were calling. Oy stress! While Dr. K certainly made the rounds, she skipped over the get together at Flamingo East. Good thing too because rumor has it that the Visionaire event hosted by Gucci goon Tom Ford was a total flop-o-la! All in all, Dr. Know had a tip top time in NYC and a hangover to put in the record books. It's nice to be back in sleepy Crambridge with all you kids...