During this six-day Milan Fashion Week, a total of 11 brand catwalk shows will be held from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. on the opening day.
However, Gucci is definitely the only focus today. Italian luxury brands such as Prada, Armani, Fendi, and Versace have all previously postponed their catwalk shows to Gucci.
At the end of the Gucci show, except for a few people who had to leave, most of the other media and guests stayed. In addition to post-show photos and interviews, Gucci also arranged a sumptuous luncheon and a grand brand-themed party in the evening.
After just watching the 15-minute catwalk show with Simon, Sofia Faisy started to be busy again, and both Janet and Jennifer were pulled by her to help.
Simon moved to the rest area carefully arranged by another factory next to the show.
The exquisite sofas, open bar and essential Gucci product displays make this rest area full of art, while also making it convenient for people to rest and socialize.
After accepting media interviews and taking photos, the guests gradually gathered here to take a rest and wait for the luncheon to start at 11:30.
Subsequently, the model team responsible for this catwalk also appeared one after another. Because it is the busiest fashion season in the industry, these models will not only come to Milan for this one catwalk show, but because of Gucci, they do not need to go to other shows at least this morning.
At the round table in the corner of the seating area.
When Madonna came here, she pestered Simon and said, "Simon, the sales volume of the soundtrack of "The Bodyguard" is really amazing. How about helping me create an album? I can star in Daenerys Entertainment's movie for free."
Simon felt that this woman was almost clinging to him, so he had to step aside and said: "Maggie, the success of the soundtrack of "The Bodyguard" was just an accident. Moreover, you will star in Daenerys Entertainment's movie for free, so The chips are not attractive at all.”
"Oh, Simon, it's so hurtful for you to say that. Wasn't my performance in "Pulp Fiction" very good?" Madonna persevered and hit Simon again, saying: "Or, we can cooperate, just Like Daenerys Entertainment’s collaboration with Alistar Records on the ‘Bodyguard’ soundtrack.”
Simon shook his head firmly again and said: "Making records is very labor-intensive, and I don't have the time now."
"Oh, Simon, you are so heartless. It's useless for me to treat you as a good friend."
Simon smiled and said: "Since we are friends, we should involve less work matters."
"You are wrong, friends should help each other," Madonna retorted. Seeing that Simon did not let go, she turned to say: "In addition, I just saw the filming team of "Gucci Documentary" and suddenly thought, my concert next year will be It’s not possible to make a documentary.”
When Simon heard this, he immediately thought of Madonna's music documentary "Sleeping with Madonna".
Remember, Madonna's music documentary based on her 1990 'Blonde Blonde' world tour experience grossed nearly $30 million worldwide at a cost of less than $5 million, more than Michael Jackson's 1985 "Shadow Dancer" in the same genre was much more successful.
However, knowing that the woman next to him was actually very smart, Simon did not immediately show any interest. He just said: "The Gucci Documentary is mainly used for brand promotion. What do you do with the documentary?"
"Maybe it can be a big hit," Madonna suddenly became interested and started to calculate directly: "The budget for such a documentary shouldn't be too high, a few million is enough. And it's not just me, when the time comes Many friends will appear on camera to support, especially Simon Westeros' performance, which is very rare. Therefore, even if it cannot be released in theaters like Jackson's "Shadow Dancer" in the future, it will be distributed through video tapes and TV broadcast rights. Sales and earning back the cost should be no problem.”
Madonna made up her mind as she spoke. She looked up and said, "Simon, do you want to cooperate? If you don't want to, I will find someone else."
Simon noticed the faint temptation in Madonna's eyes, and said with a smile: "Otherwise, you can pay for the production yourself, and Daenerys Entertainment can help distribute it. Maybe you can really make a lot of money."
Madonna can afford the money now, but she is well aware of the absolute rule in this industry that you should never use your own money to invest in movies.
Seeing that Simon was indifferent, Madonna reluctantly tried again: "Then I will find another film company to cooperate?"
In today's Hollywood, who doesn't know Simon Westero's vision? If the little man next to her becomes interested in her documentary idea, she can use it as a bargaining chip to fight for herself, regardless of whether the documentary will be successful in the future. More benefits.
Simon just shrugged and was about to say something else when a group of tall, beautiful and beautiful beauties came towards them laughing and chatting. They were the models for this show.
Michael Jackson's "Shadow Dancer" didn't make any waves. Simon didn't believe that many people would be interested in Madonna's music documentary, so he planned to show off this woman first, pretending to be attracted by Cindy Crawford and others. The person caught his eye and took the initiative to say hello: "Cindy, are you done?"
"Take a break for now, we have to take pictures in the afternoon," Cindy Crawford said. She just nodded to Madonna casually and sat down on the other side of Simon very rudely. She had nothing to say and said, "You guys are chatting." What?"
Simon responded casually, and models such as Paulina Priskova, Helena Christensen, and Stephanie Seymour also sat around the round table after greeting Simon. Seeing that Simon was completely attracted by a group of goblins, Madonna took the initiative to get up and walk elsewhere instead of staying to ask for trouble.
Under Simon, there was originally just a two-seater minimalist style sofa. Madonna stood up. He originally wanted to move to the other side to make the space more relaxed, but a slender figure sat down. There was a slight squeeze of the body and another light fragrance. Simon turned his head and saw that this was a girl with brown hair, blue eyes and high cheekbones, wearing a simple white shirt and washed jeans.
He had already met her during the last rehearsal, not to mention there was still too much information in his memory. Simon did not pretend not to recognize her and said in Italian: "Hello, Miss Bruni."
Carla Bruni was stunned for a moment and said in Italian: "Hello, Mr. Westeros, your Italian accent seems to be more standard than mine."
Simon smiled and said: "How is it possible, aren't you Italian?"
Carla Bruni took the coffee brought by the waiter and held it in her hand, saying: "I immigrated to France with my family when I was 5 years old."
Simon waved his hand towards the waiter, pointed to a cup of coffee already placed on the round table in front of him, and continued to talk to Carla Bruni: "Why do you want to immigrate to France? The Bruni family seems to be very prominent in Italy."
"In those years, the security in Italy was getting worse and worse, and my family was worried about being kidnapped, so they had to immigrate," Carla Bruni said, and then said to Simon: "Mr. Westeros, if you stay here for a long time, It’s longer, so try to be careful.”
Simon nodded and said, "Also, just call me Simon."
Stephanie Seymour, who was sitting on the single sofa next to her, saw that the two of them had been talking in Italian, and she interrupted dissatisfiedly: "Simon, Carla, what are you talking about? No one understands."
"Talk about the mafia, you should be careful in Milan these days."
Stephanie Seymour didn't seem to know anything about this, and said she didn't care much: "We are not those little models who have just debuted."
While chatting like this, the time soon reached 11 o'clock, and the staff began to remind everyone to rush to a nearby hotel, where the luncheon would be held.
When Carla Bruni got up, she generously gave Simon a business card, hoping to chat again when we have time.
Simon had no idea about this woman who was known as the 'sex-eating demon' and it didn't fit his taste, but he still put away the business card.
In the next few days, the Gucci team led by Sofia was busy.
Newspaper articles, magazine features and TV interviews about this Gucci show were also quickly spread in various media. Although some newspapers and magazines inevitably criticized Gucci’s show and even the new season’s fashion design style as being too commercial, overall The trend of public opinion is clearly tilted towards the positive.
The four major fashion weeks of this era were London, Milan, Paris and New York.
It was not until the opening of Paris Fashion Week that the discussion about Gucci in the media was gradually diverted by major French luxury brands. Italian brands such as Prada and Armani were completely suppressed by Gucci.
The day after the big show, Simon and Janet started their own schedule.
First, I flew to Rome, met with Giuseppe Tornatore who was making final preparations for "Family Journey", and also attended a gathering of the Italian film industry.
In the 1970s, due to the rise of the Italian gang in Hollywood, Italian filmmakers were really famous in Hollywood for several years. However, this scenery disappeared with the failure of a series of European directors in Hollywood's big productions. However, as the world's film center, Italian filmmakers still have an instinctive yearning for Hollywood. Simon, a young Hollywood tycoon who has risen rapidly in recent years, is naturally warmly received by the Italian film circle.
When they first purchased their property, they failed to find a suitable place to live in Rome. Simon and Janet only stayed in the city for three days before rushing to Florence.
Simon's multiple identities as the new richest man in the United States and a Hollywood media tycoon made Simon's trip to Italy attract the attention of local media, and the local media in Italy is no less active than in North America.
As soon as he arrived in Milan, Simon was always being chased by the Italian paparazzi. He traveled to three of the most important cities in Italy and inevitably said some nice words when questioned by the media. Simon quickly became a target of this country in the Italian media. A very popular American billionaire.
Speaking of which, if it weren't for the potential concerns about security issues, Simon would indeed have a good impression of Italy, a country with a profound cultural heritage.
Just the day after leaving Milan, due to the exposure of local newspapers, Simon's mansion on the shores of Lake Como suffered an attempted break-in.
Alarm systems were installed at all of Simon's residences in Europe. The intruders were discovered as soon as they climbed over the wall. Milan police promptly arrested a criminal gang of five people with obvious gang backgrounds. If the private home of an influential public figure like Simon was broken into, it would definitely affect the image of Milan. The Milan government quickly sent people to lobby Simon not to publicize the incident.
Since he had not suffered any losses, Simon naturally would not make a fuss.
However, Simon then also gave Sofia a media public relations task to avoid the exposure of information about his mansions in Europe as much as possible, and also considered continuing to upgrade or specially develop a more rigorous residential monitoring alarm system. As a guy with a strong sense of territory like a lion, Simon didn't care about the possible financial losses after these houses were broken into, but the fact that his private property was broken into made him very, very uncomfortable.
Florence.
It was already Thursday, September 28, at Simon's manor in the southern suburbs of the city.
Milan Fashion Week ended on the 26th, and Sofia also led the team back to Florence.
After a day's work, Sophia drove here at six o'clock in the afternoon, asked the bodyguard in the front yard, and walked straight around the villa to the backyard.
On the lawn under the setting sun, Simon and Janet were standing together at a long table covered with various information documents, discussing something in a low voice, and Jennifer was also beside them. Seeing Sofia appear, the two stopped talking and greeted everyone. Sofia casually glanced at the documents on the table and saw a document with the title 'Colombia Savings and Credit Bank Bond Asset Risk Assessment' printed on it, so she took it back knowingly. look.
Simon didn't shy away and said to Sophia: "I can't show you these. Let's go to the living room."
Sofia responded with a smile and followed Simon into the villa.
The two sat down on the sofa in the living room. Simon remembered something and asked: "What happened to Sabina Forelli in "Family Journey"? You two became good friends?"
Sofia took out the documents from the satchel she brought and said after hearing this: "Sabina's father is an official of the Milan city government. We were able to get the factory building in the eastern suburbs to hold the catwalk, and the other party helped us a lot. "
Simon nodded and asked no more questions.
It is impossible to do business in any country without dealing with the government. It is even more impossible to expand the business without establishing closer relations with the local government. My female executives are obviously very familiar with this. , Simon didn’t plan to pay too much attention.
Sofia also didn't say much. Instead, she handed the document she took out of her bag to Simon and said, "This is Gucci's various operating conditions and financial data in recent months, as well as several project planning documents."
Simon took it, opened a document casually, and said, "Why do you suddenly ask me to see these?"
Sophia said: "Judging from Gucci's recent business performance, this year's revenue data should exceed US$350 million, a significant increase of 35% compared to last year's full-year revenue of US$260 million. However, this competition with Dior, Chanel, etc. There is still a big gap between its opponents, Dior’s revenue last year was as high as 830 million U.S. dollars, and its net profit was 120 million U.S. dollars.”
Simon hummed and waited for Sophia to continue.
Sofia paused for a moment, then continued: "Fortunately, Gucci has recovered very quickly in recent months. My expectation for this company is that next year's revenue will exceed US$600 million, surpassing Dior in 1991. I want to achieve it At this point, we must continue to expand the scale of Gucci. The project plans in your hand include plans to acquire workshops, a plan to renovate Gucci stores around the world and employee training plans, as well as a plan for the fourth quarter of this year and next year. Marketing budget plan. Simon, if you agree, Gucci will not retain any profits in the last two years. I plan to use all funds for the expansion of the company, and will seek loan financing again if necessary."