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Article: Brawling for Beauty : The owners of some of the world's best-known luxury brands are waging a fierce takeover battle.(Gucci Group N.V.; LVMH-Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton)
- Article from:
- Newsweek
- Article date:
- April 5, 1999
- Author:
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Gucci's head designer, Tom Ford, has never been afraid to mix sex with pain. Consider the red patent-leather pumps with five-inch, steel-spike heels that he designed in 1997. But Ford's fall-winter 2000 collection, which debuted in Milan a few weeks ago, went beyond S&M into battle gear. Models in thigh-high anaconda-skin boots, fox bomber jackets and polished-leather breastplates marched ferociously down the catwalk, their pouts replaced with sneers. The clothing screamed war. And Gucci is waging a fierce one as the red-hot Florentine fashion house tries to fend off the sort of Wall Street-style takeover that's becoming increasingly common in the new unified Europe.
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