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The House of Gucci

The Tuscan villa of designer Frida Giannini reflects her high-style, but low-key aesthetic

By CHRISTINA PASSARIELLO

As the creative force behind Gucci's clothing and accessory collections, Frida Giannini is known in the fashion world for the way she draws inspiration from the Italian luxury brand's archives to create classic, wearable designs.

Much less discussed is how Ms. Giannini applies the same design philosophy to create new spaces. She designed Gucci's new flagship store in New York. (She heads there next week for a charity event; proceeds from the sale of a special collection of Gucci handbags will be donated to Unicef-run programs in Africa.) And her love of interiors is apparent throughout her eclectic-yet-thoroughly-contemporary 18th-century Italian villa, nestled in the hills above Florence.

"Architecture and interior design are my second passion in life," says 37-year-old Ms. Giannini.

Dave Yoder

Frida Giannini on the steps connecting her living room to her "tech room." She and her husband knocked out walls to create a larger, lighter space.

A 10-minute drive from her office, the villa's turquoise-tiled indoor pool overlooks a garden with olive groves in the distance. Windows are set to the west and south to catch the best light. "I grew up in the south of Italy, so light is fundamental," says Ms. Giannini, peering out of huge windows at her German shepherd, Gunner, on the patio.

When she and her Web-designer husband Giovanni Battista Guidi bought their villa three years ago, they tore it apart. Ms. Giannini loved the traditional tiled-roof exterior of the house. But the villa felt too old-fashioned and cramped inside: a succession of three dark rooms made up the heart of the living area. With the help of her father, an architect in Rome, Ms. Giannini knocked down the walls, turning the dining and lounge areas into a long, light space with white walls and dark wood floors.

At home as on the runway, historical references guide Ms. Giannini's aesthetic vision. The bright white walls serve as the backdrop to an amalgam of furniture dating from the 1930s to the 1970s. Ms. Giannini picked up a 1950s black bar cabinet at one of her favorite shops on Rome's antique-furniture row, Via dei Coronari. A former equestrian, Ms. Giannini cherishes an antique rocking horse her husband bought for her from a shop in a Dolomite mountain village.

In Ms. Giannini's favorite area, a living room with a marble fireplace, there are stacks of books on 1940s cinema, interior designer Kelly Wearstler, artist Jeff Koons and French photographer Guy Bourdin. Down a short flight of stairs is the "tech room," which holds the designer's collection of 8,000 vinyl records from the 1970s and 1980s, a flat-screen television and a Wii console.

"There is a common aesthetic that accompanies me in my life and my job," says Ms. Giannini. "It's a respect and love for history, reinterpreted in a contemporary way."

Dave Yoder

A coral print hangs over a small antique table.

The quiet villa is also a reflection of Ms. Giannini's hard-working lifestyle. She isolates herself before a fashion show or during brainstorms for a new collection. Even when she entertains, Ms. Giannini is often wrapped up in work. Members of her design team are her most frequent dinner guests.

For decades, the fashion business has celebrated designers whose larger-than-life personas are inextricably linked with their brands. Chanel's white-haired Karl Lagerfeld never leaves his house without his black gloves and a scowl. Louis Vuitton's Marc Jacobs was recently photographed for a New York magazine posing in his underwear. Donatella Versace's dyed platinum hair and hard-partying lifestyle embody the brash style of her eponymous brand.

Even Tom Ford, Ms. Giannini's predecessor, revamped Gucci in the 1990s largely thanks to his own image as a sex symbol, transforming it from a staid brand for grandmothers into one of the world's hottest labels. Customers bought Gucci for a piece of the sultry image Mr. Ford had created. "A brand becomes famous through its designer's personality," says Vogue Italia editor-in-chief Franca Sozzani.

Ms. Giannini is testing that adage. She is rarely photographed in magazines and says she's not a "party girl" -- unlike her predecessor, who feted his departure from Gucci with a pole-dancing bash. A self-defined "control freak" who doesn't drink coffee because of stress-related stomach problems (she still drinks Diet Coke), Ms. Giannini also starts her catwalk shows relatively on-time, unusual in the fashion world.

"Some people still love the psychodrama [of designers]. Some like to identify with a healthy, optimistic, realistic person," says the designer, dressed casually in brown corduroys and tall black riding boots and lounging in her tech room. "The fashion world is divided."

She's also taken Gucci in a vastly different direction than her predecessor. Far from Mr. Ford's plunging necklines, Mr. Giannini's designs are softer, more feminine and more classic.

"It's a very different vibe from five years ago when Tom [Ford] was in charge," says Tom Julian, a New York-based fashion consultant. Gucci is a "long way from the sexy world of the '90s." The new direction hasn't caused any blip in the consistent upwards march in Gucci's sales. Experts expect Gucci's strength in accessories to help it carry through the current downturn. Gucci is a division of French conglomerate PPR SA.

As her responsibilities at Gucci have grown, Ms. Giannini has found a new way to unwind -- amidst the black and stainless steel counters of her kitchen.

"This is my kingdom," she says, standing at the center island, a retro-style espresso machine in front of her. "If you give me two hours free and three kilos of vegetables, I will cut them all up. It's like therapy."

Soon Ms. Giannini may find herself with a new home-renovation project before her. Next spring, Gucci's designer and her team of about 40 are transferring their offices to Rome.