September 23.
On the second day of Milan Fashion Week, just after nine in the morning, crowds began gathering inside an abandoned factory in the Fellini district on the city's western outskirts.
Gucci's 1990 Spring and Summer womenswear show was set to begin at ten.
Three months ago, after selecting this derelict factory on Messner Avenue in the eastern Fellini district, Gucci's team began renovating the space for the show. By the time Fashion Week opened, even Messner Avenue outside was plastered with Gucci posters. Inside the factory, every detail of the venue lighting, seating, runway layout had been polished to perfection.
In the end, this show was a grand marketing campaign for the Gucci brand, meant to rebuild the luxury label's high-end image after years of decline. The clothes themselves were secondary. If you put in the effort, a truly talented designer couldn't possibly produce work that was outright bad.
The real focus was everything happening behind the curtain.
To maximize exposure for the show, and ensure it was positive exposure, Gucci's marketing team had been doing media and PR groundwork for months. Daenerys Entertainment had also provided every bit of support it could.
So before the show even started, top fashion magazines had already reserved spreads for Gucci. CNN, MTV, and many TV stations across Europe, Australia, and even Asia had been invited to cover and interview. Gucci had also arranged for celebrities from different countries and regions to appear on camera as needed. Valeria Golino, famous in Italy after consecutive roles in Rain Man and Batman, would handle the local press. Madonna, Geena Davis, and other Hollywood singers and stars would appear for CNN and MTV. Natasha Kinski was scheduled for an interview with French television, and so on.
As for models, with Gucci coming in aggressive and competitor brands like Dior and Chanel clearly pushing back, several of the most famous supermodels of recent years, Claudia Schiffer, Linda Evangelista, and others, ultimately did not attend.
Even so, the model lineup was still strong. Cindy Crawford, Carla Bruni, Paulina Porizkova, Stephanie Seymour, Helena Christensen, and other well-known faces were more than enough to carry the runway's star power
And of course, there was also The Gucci Documentary being produced around this show.
After the show, the documentary was expected to enter North American theaters in November, with theatrical releases planned in Europe and Asia as well.
Just like "Gucci Night" at Cannes back in May, Simon's role here was still mostly as a lucky charm.
But Simon had planned to rest for a while after finishing Batman anyway. This time he wasn't rushing, and it also gave Janet a legitimate excuse to step away from Cersei Capital. So after the show ended, even though there were still plenty of things waiting for Simon, he wouldn't need to leave in the same hurry as last time.
They'd stayed out late at a club downtown the night before, but they were still up early.
From Lake Como to Milan's outskirts, everyone ate breakfast together. It wasn't even eight yet when they all plunged into the day's work. The rehearsals suggested the runway itself would last only fifteen minutes, but the surrounding schedule would keep everyone busy for two or three days.
Same old story. The real work happened behind the scenes.
"Hi, Maggie… Yeah, Jenny and I are covered head to toe in Gucci. To avoid being forced to wear only one brand for the rest of our lives, I'm already thinking about buying a few other luxury houses… And yes, I still owe you an accompaniment. I haven't forgotten."
...
"Geena, and Jeff too, I'm really glad you could come… Since it's a baseball movie, you have to do some training. After A League of Their Own, I promise you'll level up into an action star… All right, did I just say something?"
...
"Valeria, you look gorgeous today… Of course my Italian is fine, but honestly, I like your accented English more."
...
"Hello, Ms. Wintour… Thank you, I think the venue design is incredible too, but that's Ford and the team. I didn't really do anything."
...
As showtime approached, after the guests finished taking photos at the media wall, they gathered in the waiting area to chat.
Sofia and Tom Ford were making their final preparations, so Simon and Janet took on host duties, drifting through the crowd and exchanging greetings.
After circling through the guests, the two finally caught a brief moment to breathe. Janet suddenly leaned in close to Simon's ear and murmured, "Why isn't Sandra here this time?"
"She's filming a new movie. She couldn't get away," Simon said, smiling as he brushed his cheek against hers. "You wanted Sandy to come?"
A few days earlier, when Simon was still in Los Angeles, Sandra had called him specifically to explain. To widen her range, she'd taken a Columbia musical.
Ever since 1978's box office champion Grease, musicals had remained an important Hollywood category, with hit after hit along the way.
Simon hadn't heard of the musical titled Footloose, but since Sandra wanted to try it, he didn't discourage her. With several successful films behind her and an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress, her position was already solid. One or two failures wouldn't matter.
None of that needed explaining to Janet.
Janet heard his answer and pursed her lips. "It'd be best if she never showed up in front of me again."
They were still murmuring to each other when a curvy Latina beauty walked up to them on her own. Simon recognized her as Sabrina Ferilli, the woman he'd met during the Florence trip last time, and greeted her with a smile. "Hey, Sabrina. What are you doing here?"
Sabrina Ferilli looked pleasantly flustered. "Simon, I didn't think you'd remember me. Ms. Fessi gave me an invitation. Um, is this your girlfriend?"
"Yes," Simon said. "Janet Johnston. Jenny, this is Sabrina Ferilli."
The two women exchanged greetings. Sabrina then spoke about what she'd been doing lately. She had just landed a role in Giuseppe Tornatore's new film Everybody's Fine, playing one of the male lead's children. She didn't hide that Sofia had helped a little behind the scenes.
After Cinema Paradiso took the Palme d'Or in May, replacing what had been Sex, Lies, and Videotape in the original timeline, Giuseppe Tornatore instantly became a top-tier Italian director. Not only did Universal buy Cinema Paradiso for an eye-watering price, his next project was fought over as well.
Unfortunately, due to a distribution strategy mistake, Cinema Paradiso made no splash in North America.
After some twists, Daenerys Entertainment became one of the producers of Tornatore's new film Everybody's Fine. The budget, converted to dollars, was three million, not low for Europe. Highgate Pictures invested one million and secured full North American rights across all channels.
And because of Cinema Paradiso's North American failure and Daenerys Entertainment's rising prestige, Highgate Pictures had significant influence on the production.
Gucci and Highgate Pictures were currently collaborating on The Gucci Documentary, so Sofia naturally stayed in touch with Deutchman. And in Italy, helping Sabrina Ferilli secure a role in Everybody's Fine wasn't difficult. Simon had read the script. One of the male lead's children was a model, and Sabrina's look fit perfectly.
He just didn't understand why Sofia was helping her. Their brief past contact didn't seem enough to justify that level of favor.
As ten o'clock neared, guests began entering and taking their seats.
Although a large crowd had been invited, the core of the show was still the new Gucci pieces on the models, so the lighting inside the venue was focused primarily on the runway.
However, to support the documentary shoot, the media area inside wasn't handled the way most shows of this era were, with photographers crammed along the runway edge in front of the guests. Instead, the runway had been extended, dividing the media section and the guest section into two distinct zones.
Simon and Janet didn't plan to appear much in The Gucci Documentary, so they'd requested a less noticeable spot, and not even in the front row. They were seated in the second row. The front row had been reserved for the fashion power players and film stars who would be deliberately picked up by the lights and the cameras.
Ten o'clock.
The venue lights dimmed, and the opening music began.
Sofia, looking exhausted, emerged from backstage and came out to sit down. Jennifer, seated to Simon's left, quietly gave up the seat directly beside him, making room.
A spotlight gathered at the runway entrance. Cindy Crawford, chosen to open the show, stepped into view in a white dress. The knee-length look, round neckline, sleeveless, backless, cinched at the waist, and accented with unmistakably Gucci-style accessories, was instantly striking.
To be fair, Simon couldn't tolerate most fashion from this era, especially the broad-shouldered women's blazers worn by urban office professionals.
Thanks to Simon's resistance, the women around him rarely wore that kind of suit.
The show's design language reflected a lot of input Simon had gradually passed on during his long-distance discussions with Sofia by phone and fax. Now, it was clear Tom Ford had adopted many of his suggestions, especially the idea of strengthening Gucci's brand elements within the design, and increasing complexity in certain silhouettes. That was a very effective way to reduce copying.
Counterfeit and imitation had always been a headache for luxury houses.
In addition, the suggestion of dividing the show into sub-themes based on cut and color palette had been implemented too. There was no jarring whiplash of black-and-white suddenly flipping into loud reds and greens.
All in all, Simon had done a fair amount of preparatory work while communicating with the Gucci team. He'd watched recent runway videos from other major luxury brands again and again, more than once.