GGFor years, Gucci was as famed for its founding-family fueds as for its fashionable products.
The high point came in 1995 with the shooting of Maurizio, Rodolfo's son, who had taken over the business. His ewastedd wife Patrizia was arrested - her guilt and greed not much in doubt ("I would rather weep in a Rolls-Royce than be happy on a bicycle," she had once declared).
Patrizia's trial was followed in Italy much as O.J. Simpson's had been in America. Indeed, upon her conviction, Tom Ford, Gucci's chief designer, had curious items displayed in the windows of Gucci stores around the world. The items? Sterling silver handcuffs!
[So intense was the family's feuding that many Milanese joked that Gucci's famous "G" stood for guerra (war): Having taken Gucci to America, Aldo, one of founder Guccio Gucci's sons, battled his brother Rodolfo for control. An infamous board meeting in 1982 degenerated into a brawl during which Aldo gashed the face of his own son, Paolo, drawing blood. Paolo later got his revenge when he helped prosecutors put his 80-year-old father behind bars for tax evasion.]
Ford, Tom (?- ) American fashion designer [noted for almost single-handedly reviving the venerable Gucci brand]
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