The Real Thing

By Emanuela del Zompo
(Fashion issue, Aug./Sept. 2005)

The name Giorgio Armani is synonymous with fashion, and particularly fashion on film. Ever since Richard Gere sauntered onto the screen in American Gigolo, wearing - and occasionally not wearing - Armani's sleek, distinctive suits, the 72-year-old Italian designer has become a $2 billion global brand name on everything from clothes to kitchenware and cosmetics, and even a line of resort hotels.

Before he started making clothes, he planned to work on bodies: He briefly studied medicine in the northern Italian town of Piacenza, where he was born. He dabbled in photography and then was called up for military service. When he returned, he got work as a buyer for the department store La Rinascente. Soon he was designing for Nino Cerruti, and then as a freelancer.

In 1975, he and his partner Sergio Galeotti sold their Volkswagen and used the money to start their own fashion house, Giorgio Armani J.S.C. And the rest is history, with his launch into American films leading to the more affordable Emporio Armani line and countless other products and collections. In 1982, he was only the second fashion designer (after Christian Dior) to grace the cover of Time magazine.

In a recent interview, Armani proved as reserved and simply elegant as his designs. His long career gives him a unique perspective into the changing trends on film and on the runway.

"I think of style as the true and only luxury that everyone can afford; elegance is a state conceived by muting the brashness of the current trends," Armani says, as a sort of preamble. "Since the beginning of my work in fashion, it has always provoked a serenity of mind in me."

His intentions clear, he moves on to the subject at hand.

"Fashion has changed immensely over the years. For instance, the '30s were a period when hyper-femininity and sex appeal held sway, but femininity also meant a certain degree of reserve. In the '40s, fashion collections were created for two different markets: women in wartime and women in peace. Fashion rebelled against the limitations imposed by the war, and afterwards it expressed society's wish for peace and stability; Dior declared that his dream was to 'save nature.' "

Then came the '50s and '60s - the time of his early ascendance. Fashion found its inspiration in a variety of social factors.

"When Queen Elizabeth was crowned [in 1952], the London designers created collections inspired by the royal court. Chanel went back to the stage, rebelling against the trends set by the other designers. And there was the hippie movement, which expressed feelings of love and peace. In the '70s, the pop culture boom took place."

Though he entered the 20^th Century's march of fashion only about halfway through, Armani confides that "my teachers were those who created clothes for the American actors of the '30s." And film has always held a special place in Armani's career, as he has dressed so many actors both onscreen and off, from Sophia Loren to Cameron Diaz, Sean Connery to Leonardo DiCaprio.

"Cinema is my great passion, and fashion has allowed me to be in touch with its characters," he says. With his clothes, he's allowed us to share a similar experience. In a phrase that could serve as his motto, Armani says, "Fashion is not only something to dream about, but something you can live for real."