Factual error: When Tom Ford reads The New York Times article about his successful show, his copy from Sunday March 13 1995 is a Frankenstein made out of different articles from different parts of the year that don't match the titles (the 'utility employees' article is actually about a single mother in a dire situation, published on December 26, the 'Soviet ship' article is from November 10). Also, there's the small detail that March 13 1995 was a Monday, not a Sunday. (02:16:35)
Factual error: When Aldo and Maritzio are doing dishes in Maritzio's apartment there is an LED light bulb sitting in a glass on the shelf. It is slightly larger than the standard light bulb and wouldn't have been available at the time the movie takes place.
Factual error: During the wedding scene and in other rare moments Lady Gaga and Adam Driver speak actual Italian (let's not get into the logic of the fact that they speak throughout the whole movie with 'English with Italian accent' in Italy, especially when it is pure pantomime like Leto's), but they are not native speakers, their pronunciation is off. Al Pacino does worse when in the next scene he greets the housemaid Claudia with "Buonasera" (good evening) which the captions (and the rest of the dialogue, since he repeats the line in Englishalian too) translate as "Good Morning."
Factual error: The climax of the first show by Tom Ford happens with the bold presentation of a Gucci g-string. Maurizio is alive and well here, but the event happened at the presentation of the Spring collection in 1997, months after his death.
Factual error: Maurizio Gucci is killed practically in front of a recognizable landmark (Fontana delle Rane, "Frog Fountain") in Rome, but in reality he was killed in Milan. The registration plates of the cars in the scene are also "MI", which would be a pretty extraordinary coincidence in Rome.
Factual error: The name of the truck company owned by Patrizia's stepfather is "Corriere F. Reggiani." It's not a fitting name for his company, since we see the company fleet is made of flatbed trucks, and "corriere" in Italy is the express delivery courier. Later in the movie there's a movie prop that accidentally shows on screen an article about the real life story, and the name of the company is "Autotrasporti F.Reggiani", which would be the correct, and actual, name.
Factual error: Patrizia Reggiani signs a series of bank cheques from March 1978. The same evening she goes to a party. First song playing; "On the radio", released in late 1979. Second one (when he meets the dorky Gucci heir behind the bar); "Anna" by Miguel Bosé, released in 1978, yes, but around November. When she convinces him to dance, the main song played is "Love to love you baby", which is appropriate being from 1975, but before switching to it, for a few seconds you can hear the riff from "Bad Girl", again a Donna Summer hit, released both as a single and part of the album only in 1979.
Factual error: The first and second scenes are set on the same day in 1978. The second scene at the party features 2 Donna Summer songs (On the radio and Bad girls). Both songs were not released until 1979.
Factual error: The movie begins on March 1978 (date on the bank cheques that Patrizia signs). She meets Maurizio at the party that evening and, after 2 years they are married. All good, except for the fact that in reality, Maurizio Gucci and Patrizia Reggiani's wedding took place on October 27,1972.
Answer: Yes. Basically, within the narrative of the film, Maurizio is weak-willed and easily manipulated by Patrizia; he didn't even want to be involved in running Gucci in the first place and has no real business acumen. So, he both overextends the firm and spends a huge amount of money on an extravagant lifestyle, which leaves him in financial trouble and at the mercy of a hostile takeover.