On the second day of the six-day Milan Fashion Week, a total of 11 catwalks will be held from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.

However, Gucci is definitely the only focus today, with Italian luxury brands such as Prada, Armani, Fendi and Versace all staggering the date of their catwalks with Gucci.

At the end of the Gucci show, except for a few people who needed to leave in a hurry, most of the other media and guests stayed, and in addition to post-show photo interviews, Gucci also arranged a sumptuous luncheon, and also held a grand brand theme party in the evening.

Just by accompanying Simon to watch the 15-minute catwalk, Sophia Fesse began to be busy again, and Janet and Jennifer were both pulled by her to help.

Simon moved to the well-laid out lounge area next door to the show, which had been carefully laid out in another factory.

Sophisticated sofas, an open bar and the indispensable display of Gucci products make this lounge area feel artistic, while also making it easy for those who are in it to rest and socialize.

After receiving media interviews and taking photos, the guests also gradually gathered here to 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's the busiest fashion season in the circle, these models won't be the only ones who come to Milan, but because of Gucci, they won't have to go to the other runway at least this morning.

At a round table in the corner of the lounge area.

When Madonna came here, she pestered Simon and said, "Simon, the sales of the original soundtrack of 'The Bodyguard' are amazing, how about helping me build an album? I can star in Daenerys Entertainment movies for free." ”

Simon felt that the woman was almost clinging to him, so he had to give way to the side, and said, "Maggie, the success of the original soundtrack of "Bodyguard" was just an accident. Moreover, you come to star in Daenerys Entertainment movies for free, such a chip is not attractive at all. ”

"Oh, Simon, it hurts you to say that, didn't I do well in 'Vulgar'?" Madonna stubbornly smacked Simon again, "Or, we can work together, just like Daenerys Entertainment did with Alista Records on the soundtrack of 'Bodyguard.'" ”

Simon shook his head again and said, "It's a lot of work to make a record, and I don't have that kind of time right now. ”

"Alas, Simon, you are so heartless that I still think of you as a good friend. ”

Simon smiled: "Since we are friends, we should be less involved in work matters." ”

"You're wrong, friends should help each other," Madonna retorted, and seeing that Simon didn't let go, she turned to say, "Also, I just saw the Gucci documentary crew, and suddenly I wondered if I could make a documentary for next year's concert." ”

When Simon heard this, he immediately remembered Madonna's music documentary "Sleeping with Madonna".

As far back as I can remember, Madonna's music documentary, based on her 1990 "Blonde Ambitions" world tour, grossed nearly $30 million worldwide at a cost of less than $5 million, much more successful than Michael Jackson's 1985 "Shadow Dancer."

However, knowing that the woman next to him was actually very shrewd, Simon did not immediately show any interest, but said: "Gucci Documentary is mainly used for brand promotion, what do you do when you make a documentary?"

"Maybe it can be a big hit," Madonna suddenly became interested, and directly calculated: "The budget for such a documentary should not be too high, a few million is enough." And, not only myself, but a lot of friends will be on camera when the time comes, especially Simon Westeros's performance, which is very rare. Therefore, even if it can't be released in theaters like Jackson's "Shadow Dancer" in the future, it should be no problem to make a profit on the cost through the distribution of video tapes and the sale of TV broadcast rights. ”

Madonna made up her mind as she spoke, looked up and said, "Simon, do you want to cooperate, if you don't want to, I'll go 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 is taking out the money now, but she is well aware of the absolute rule in this circle that you should never invest your own money in movies.

Seeing that Simon was indifferent, Madonna was unwilling to test again: "Then I'll find other film companies to cooperate?"

In Hollywood now, who doesn't know Simon Westeros's vision, if the little man next to her becomes interested in her documentary idea, no matter whether the documentary can really succeed in the future, she can use it as a bargaining chip to fight for more benefits for herself.

Simon just shrugged his shoulders and was about to say something more, when a group of tall and beautiful stunners walked towards them with a smile, and they were the models who were on the catwalk.

Michael Jackson's "Shadow Dancer" didn't make any waves, Simon didn't believe that Madonna's music documentary would be of much interest, so he planned to dry the woman first, pretending to be attracted by Cindy Crawford and others who came over, and took the initiative to say hello: "Cindy, are you done?"

"Take a break for a while, and I'll have to take pictures in the afternoon," said Cindy Crawford, nodding casually at Madonna, and then sat down on Simon's other side very unceremoniously, and said without words, "What are you talking about?"

Simon responded casually, and Paulina Preskova, Helena Christensen, Stephanie Seymour and other models greeted Simon and sat down around the round table. Madonna saw that Simon was completely attracted by a group of goblins, and did not leave any more to be bored, and took the initiative to get up and walk elsewhere.

Under Simon, there was just a two-seater, minimalist sofa. Madonna got up, and he wanted to move to the other side to make the space more relaxed, but a slender figure sat down. With a slight squeeze and another faint scent, Simon turned his head to see that it was a girl with brown hair, blue eyes and high cheekbones, wearing a simple white shirt and washed jeans.

I had already seen it during the last rehearsal, not to mention that there was still too much information in my memory, Simon did not pretend not to know it, and said in Italian: "Hello, Miss Bruny. ”

Carla Bruni was stunned, and said in Italian: "Hello, Mr. Westeros, your Italian accent seems to be a little more standard than mine." ”

Simon laughed: "How is it possible, aren't you Italian?"

Carla Bruni took the coffee from the waiter, held it in her hand, and said, "I immigrated to France with my family when I was 5 years old. ”

Simon waved his hand at the waiter, pointed to the cup of coffee already on the round table in front of him, and continued to say to Carla Bruni: "Why immigrate to France, the Bruni family still seems to be very prominent in Italy. ”

"In those years, the security in Italy was getting worse and worse, and my family was afraid of being kidnapped, so they had to emigrate," said Carla Bruni, and said to Simon: "Monsieur Westeros, if you stay here for a long time, try to be careful. ”

Simon nodded and said, "Also, just call me Simon." ”

Stephanie Seymour, who was on the single sofa next to her, saw that the two had been talking in Italian, and interjected dissatisfiedly: "Simon, Kara, what are you talking about, everyone doesn't understand." ”

"You're talking about the mafia, you have to be careful in Milan these days. ”

Stephanie Seymour didn't seem to be ignorant of this, and didn't care too much: "We're not those young models who just debuted. ”

As they chatted, it was soon 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 graciously gave Simon a business card, hoping to talk again when she was free.

Simon didn't have much thought about this woman who was known as a 'cannibal' and didn't fit his aesthetic, but he still put away his business card.

For the next few days, Sophia's Gucci team was busy in a row.

Newspaper articles, magazine features, and television interviews about the Gucci show quickly spread in the media around the world, and while it was inevitable that some newspapers and magazines criticized Gucci's style of design for the show and the new season as being too commercial, the overall trend was clearly positive.

The four major fashion weeks of this era were held in the order of London, Milan, Paris and New York.

It wasn't until the opening of Paris Fashion Week that the media discussion about Gucci was gradually diverted by the major luxury brands in France, and Italian brands such as Prada and Armani were completely suppressed by Gucci.

The day after the show, Simon and Janet started their schedule.

First, he flew to Rome to meet Giuseppe Tornatore, who was making final preparations for "Family Journey", and also attended a party of the Italian film industry.

In the seventies, because of the rise of the Italian gang in Hollywood, Italian filmmakers really enjoyed their glory in Hollywood for a few years. It's just that this scenery has vanished with the failure of a series of European directors in Hollywood's big productions. However, as the center of world cinema, Italian filmmakers still have an instinctive yearning for Hollywood, and Simon, a young Hollywood tycoon who has risen rapidly in recent years, is naturally warmly welcomed by the Italian film industry.

Unable to find a suitable place to live in Rome when they first purchased a property, Simon and Janet spent only three days in the city before heading to Florence.

Simon's trip to Italy has attracted the attention of local media, and the local media is no less active in Italy than in North America.

As soon as he arrived in Milan, Simon has been the target of Italian paparazzi, traveling to three of Italy's most important cities in a row, and inevitably saying a few beautiful words when questioned by the media, Simon quickly became a rich American man with a very good impression of the country in the Italian media.

Speaking of which, if it weren't for the potential security concerns, Simon does have a good impression of Italy, a culturally rich country.

Just the day after leaving Milan, Simon's mansion on the shores of Lake Como suffered an attempted break-in because of the exposure of local newspapers.

Simon had installed alarm systems in all of his European residences, and the intruder was spotted as soon as he climbed over the fence, and the Milan police promptly arrested a group of five people who clearly had gangster backgrounds. Simon, the private home of such an influential public figure, was broken into, and the spread of the news will definitely affect the image of Milan, and the Milan government quickly sent people to lobby Simon to keep the matter quiet.

Since he didn't suffer any losses, Simon naturally wouldn't make a big fuss.

However, Simon then gave Sophia a media PR task to minimize the exposure of information about his mansions around Europe, and considered continuing to upgrade or develop a more rigorous residential surveillance alarm system. As a person with a strong sense of territory like a lion, Simon didn't care about the possible financial loss of these homes if they were broken into, but the fact that his private territory was broken into made him very, very uncomfortable.

Florence.

Simon's estate on the southern outskirts of the city, the time is already Thursday, September 28.

Milan Fashion Week ended on the 26th, and Sofia also led the team back to Florence.

At the end of the day's work, at six o'clock in the afternoon, Sophia drove here, asked the bodyguard in the front yard, and walked straight around the villa to the backyard.

On the lawn at sunset, Simon and Janet were standing together at a long table covered with various documents and discussing something in a whisper, and Jennifer was beside her. Seeing Sophia appear, the two stopped talking, everyone said hello, Sophia casually glanced at the documents on the table, and saw a document printed with the title 'Columbia Savings Credit Bank Bond Asset Risk Assessment', and retracted her gaze with interest.

Simon didn't shy away from it, and said to Sophia: "I can't show you this, let's go to the living room." ”

Sophia smiled in response and followed Simon into the villa.

The two sat down on the sofa in the living room, and Simon remembered something and asked, "What's going on with Sabina Fureli over there, you became good friends?"

Sophia took out the documents from the satchel she had brought, and said, "Sabina's father is an official of the Milan city government, and we were able to get that factory in the eastern suburbs to hold a catwalk, and the other party helped a lot. ”

Simon nodded, asking no more.

If you want to do business in any country, it is impossible not to deal with the government, and if you want to make the business bigger, it is even more impossible not to build a closer relationship with the local government, and his female executives are obviously very familiar with this, and Simon is not going to bother to pay too much attention to it.

Sophia also didn't say much, but handed Simon the documents out of her satchel and said, "This is Gucci's operating conditions and financial data in various aspects in recent months, as well as several project proposals. ”

Simon took it, flipped through a document casually, and said, "What are you doing with all of a sudden let me see this?"

"Judging from Gucci's recent operating situation, this year's revenue figure should exceed $350 million, a significant increase of 35% compared to last year's annual revenue of $260 million," Sophia said. However, this is still far from competitors such as Dior and Chanel, which had a revenue of $830 million and a net profit of $120 million last year. ”

Simon hummed and waited for Sophia to continue.

Sophia paused for a moment and continued: "Fortunately, Gucci has recovered very quickly in recent months, and my expectation for this company is that next year's revenue figure will exceed $600 million, surpassing Dior in 1991." To achieve this, we must continue to scale Gucci. You'll have a few project plans in your hand, including plans to acquire the atelier, renovations and staff training plans for Gucci stores around the world, and a marketing budget for the fourth quarter of this year and next year. Simon, if you agree, Gucci won't keep any profits for the next two years, and I'm going to use all the money for the expansion of the company, and I'll take out another loan if necessary. ”