Janty Yates on Dressing the ‘House of Gucci’
In seasons past, Gucci held a runway show on the first day of Milan Fashion Week. This season, however, the new collection is scheduled to debut in Los Angeles on Nov. 3 — not long before the Thanksgiving weekend release in movie theaters of “House of Gucci,” a film based on the true story of the killing of the former chief of the Italian fashion house, Maurizio Gucci, by his ex-wife, Patrizia Reggiani.
The movie, which stars Lady Gaga and Adam Driver, was directed by Ridley Scott, with costumes by his longtime collaborator, Janty Yates. Here Ms. Yates talks about the experience.
Image The costume designer Janty Yates. Credit… Kerry Brown
How long did it take to prepare and produce the costumes for this film?
We started six weeks of research and development during lockdown and then production from September, ahead of six months spent in Rome shooting and making the film earlier this year. The movie spanned a 20-year period in which fashion changed dramatically — 1975 to 1995 — so there had to be real range in the costumes, plus everything had to be made for L.G. [Ms. Yates’s nickname for Lady Gaga], Adam Driver and other actors like Jared Leto. Naturally I concentrated on the stars, but there was a cast of about 80 in total, and I also rented all the costumes for all the crowd and extras. I am completely responsible for all of it. The buck stops with me.
With Gucci bags and Dyson appliances, Evergrande wooed retail investors
Cranes stand next to unfinished residential buildings at the Evergrande Oasis, a housing complex developed by Evergrande Group, in Luoyang, China September 15, 2021. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins/File Photo
SHANGHAI, Sept 21 (Reuters) - Lured by the promise of yields approaching 12%, gifts such as Dyson air purifiers and Gucci bags, and the guarantee of China’s top-selling developer, tens of thousands of investors bought wealth management products through China Evergrande Group.
Now, many fear they may never get their investments back after the cash-strapped property developer recently stopped repaying some investors and set off global alarm bells over its massive debt.
Some have been protesting at Evergrande offices, refusing to accept the company’s plan to provide payment with discounted apartments, offices, stores and parking units, which it began to implement on Saturday. read more
“I bought from the property managers after seeing the ad in the elevator, as I trusted Evergrande for being a Fortune Global 500 company,” said the owner of an Evergrande property in the conglomerate’s home province of Guangdong surnamed Du.
“It’s immoral of Evergrande not to pay my hard-earned money back,” said the investor, who had put 650,000 yuan ($100,533) into Evergrande wealth management products (WMPs) last year at an interest rate of more than 7%.
More than 80,000 people – including employees, their families and friends as well as owners of Evergrande properties - bought WMPs that raised more than 100 billion yuan in the past five years, said a sales manager of Evergrande Wealth, launched in 2016 as a peer-to-peer (P2) online lending platform that originally was used to fund its property projects.
Some 40 billion yuan of the investments are outstanding, said the person, declining to be named as they were not authorised to speak with the media.
China Evergrande did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday, which was a public holiday in China.
With more than $300 billion in debt, Evergrande’s liquidity crisis rattled global markets this week. read more The company has vowed to repay WMP investors.
CHRISTMAS PROMOTION
China’s years-long effort to deleverage its economy has pushed companies to resort to off-balance sheet investments in search of funding.
After Beijing further capped debt levels of property developers last year, the most indebted players like Evergrande felt even more pressure to find new sources of capital to ease mounting liquidity stress, turning to employees, suppliers and clients for cash through commercial paper, trust and wealth management products.
Evergrande Wealth started to sell WMPs to individuals in 2019 after a regulatory crackdown led to a collapse of the P2P lending sector, said the sales manager and another Evergrande employee who bought the WMPs.
To attract investors, the sales manager offered gifts such as Dyson air purifiers and Gucci handbags to each person who bought more than 3 million yuan of WMPs during a Christmas promotion last year.
A product leaflet provided by the sales manager seen by Reuters showed the WMPs are categorised as fixed-income products suitable for “conservative investors seeking steady returns”.
‘DE-FACTO EVERGRANDE PRODUCT’
In two products sold last November, a construction company in Qingdao was looking to raise up to 10 million yuan with annualised yield of 7% in one and 20 million yuan with yields ranging from 7.8% to 9.5%, depending on the investment size, in another. Minimum investments were 100,000 yuan and 300,000 yuan, respectively.
Evergrande also usually offers additional yield up to 1.8% to certain investors, which can push returns to above 11% for a 12-month investment, said the sales manager.
Proceeds were to be used for Qingdao Lvye International Construction Co’s working capital, the documents showed. The firm could not be reached for comment during a public holiday.
Repayment would either come from the issuer’s income or from Evergrande Internet Information Service (Shenzhen) Co, a subsidiary that runs Evergrande Wealth and promises to cover the principal and interest if an issuer fails to repay, the prospectus said.
The sales manager said the Qingdao company was working on Evergrande projects and would use the payment from Evergrande upon completion to repay investors.
“It’s a de-facto Evergrande product,” the person said.
Other highly leveraged Chinese conglomerates including HNA Group, which declared bankruptcy early this year, and China Baoneng have used similar products.
In a petition to various government bodies, a group of WMP investors in Guangdong accused Evergrande of inappropriately using money that should have gone to the issuers to fund its own projects, and not sufficiently disclosing the risks.
They also complained that they were misled by the stature of its chairman, Hui Ka-yan, noting that he was seated prominently during a 2019 celebration of the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.
“The investors trusted Evergrande and bought Evergrande’s WMPs out of our love for and faith in the Party and government,” they wrote.
($1 = 6.4655 Chinese yuan renminbi)
Reporting by Zhang Yan and Tony Munroe, with additional reporting by Samuel Shen, Jason Xue and Clare Jim Editing by Shri Navaratnam
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Good Morning Vogue Premieres Exclusive New Footage From House of Gucci With Costume Designer Janty Yates
In the name of the father, the son, and the house of Gucci, Good Morning Vogue is getting an exclusive look into the world of House of Gucci costume designer Janty Yates. Raven Smith met up with Yates in London to discuss costuming Lady Gaga, Adam Driver, Jared Leto, and more in the anticipated new film by Ridley Scott. Yates also gave Good Morning Vogue a preview of never-before-seen images and clips from the film.
Inside London’s Gore Hotel, Yates describes the Gucci look of the film’s period, designed by the late Maurizio Gucci, as “round and brown.” “Tom Ford came and cut a swath through that!” she says. While Gaga does wear archival Gucci pieces in the film, Yates looked to vintage dealers and archive houses for many of the buzzed-about outfits and added heaps of accessories to Gaga’s looks. “She had 54 script days,” Yates says, “and she never repeated a look, not even an earring.”
Lady Gaga as Patrizia Reggiani in House of Gucci. Photo: Courtesy Courtesy of Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures Inc.
Out of the Ordinary vintage—OOTO London for short—provided many looks for the film, helping Yates realize Gaga’s numerous outfits with historical accuracy. Vintage dealer Calum Blyth gives Smith and Yates a tour of the archive, and Smith even gets a Gucci-worthy makeover from the Oscar-winning costume designer. Watch it all unfold in episode four of Good Morning Vogue.
The more jewelry, the better. Photo: Courtesy Courtesy of Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures Inc.
Featuring Janty Yates
Hosted by Raven Smith
Director: Jim Demuth
Executive Producer: Liv Proctor
Producer: James Graley
Production: Luca
Director of Photography: John Fisher
First A.C.: Ashley Raim
Sound Mixer: Matthew Groark
Hair and Makeup: Corinne Robinson
Assistant Producer: Mimi Koku
COVID Supervisor: Marta Belczynska
Editors: Sam Norton and Danny Robertson
Post Producer: Katie Cooper
Assistant Editor: Inka Ritola
Special thanks to OOTO London and the Gore Hotel
V.P., Digital Video Programming and Development, Vogue: Robert Semmer
Creative Editorial Director: Mark Guiducci
Postproduction Supervisor: Marco Glinbizzi
Line Producer: Jessica Schier
Production Manager: Edith Pauccar