Giorgio Armani A/W 1984-85. Image credit: Photography by Aldo Fallai
Giorgio Armani changed the way the world thought about fashion and luxury. In part because he allowed all of us a taste of Sprezzatura, that is, the studied art of carelessness. Or a mode of being that never loses its allure.
Mr Armani, as he was known in the fashion industry, died on Thursday aged 91. His business - the one he started aged 40, selling his beloved Volkswagen Beetle to do so and that which made him a billionaire - this year celebrates its 50th anniversary.
It is not only that new words were invented to describe Armani’s preferred colour palette, “greige” and “biscuit” or that he tamed the excesses of the ‘80s with suiting that draped and slouched. He made Richard Gere into a style icon - and announced his arrival as a movie star - with the easy elegance of his wardrobe in American Gigolo. So too Julia Roberts when she wore an oversized grey Giorgio Armani suit to the Golden Globes in 1990.
It is a look that has remained on just about every fashion designer’s mood board ever since. Armani - a true cinephile - was prophetic in his embrace of Hollywood, dressing stars before such things as ‘stylists’ were invented. As Dijanna Mulhearn, author of Red Carpet Oscars, to which Armani contributed, said of the biggest impact on red carpet fashion in our lifetime,
“I think the biggest moment is the ’90s and Giorgio Armani bringing in that minimalist aesthetic. [Actresses] were looking for ways to be taken more seriously and Giorgio Armani came up with the solution. Yes, you could look incredibly chic without looking like a mirror ball.”
He took out the lining and the padding and created a new kind of soft power. He believed in elegance - a scarce commodity in a voracious and hype chasing world.
American critic Dodie Kazanjian once wrote in Vogue that Armani was “doing for the jacket what others were doing for philosophy, architecture and art”.
For what he did was change how people move through the world. You did not need to have an Armani label sewn into your own jacket to be taking on his ideas around style and power - that impact did not need to be flashy. He thought about what newly empowered working women would need. Quiet luxury owes much to Mr Armani, the idea that pared back things were an epitome of taste. But what separated Armani from any semblance of bland, was his idea that real style is related to one’s values. It is not just about presentation, though this matters, but a guide for life. That remaining humble and hardworking and true counts for much.
“Style for me is a mood that can be applied to everything,” he once said. “I’ve always thought fashion is much more than just clothes: it is a way of being.”
It is a value Armani held up throughout his entire, wonderful life. For what is style if it doesn’t have meaning? What’s the point of chic if it’s hollow? Armani, for one, spoke out against the rampant pace of the fashion cycle and the endless cycling in and out of what was ‘fashion’. In an open letter in 2020 he described such velocity as immoral. As with many things, Mr Armani was ahead of his time in the way conversations in fashion would sharpen against hype and hubris. Chic is a word overused but it’s always perfect for Mr Armani. As relevant to the campaign images he created with Aldo Fallai (the very definition of chic!) to the way he was always said to be gracious and kind and to remember people he had met before. Chicness is more than the way things look. Also it has something to with being a little unknowable.
The very definition of Sprezzatura! Picture: Mondadori Portfolio
Armani stayed true to his own vision of style - of greige and soft power, for his haute couture collections, of elegance as a way to really live.
He was not in attendance for the presentation of his Giorgio Armani Prive collection in July. Only the second time Mr Armani was not backstage, and did not take his customary bow. Though he had emailed many editors to say that his hand had touched every look, and yes you could tell. The models took their time walking through the gilded room of Armani’s private hotel particulier They wore lush black velvet and smart little hats. You couldn’t say from what era they belonged. Except they felt so right now - a time where many of things Mr Armani held steadfast - elegance, quality, thoughtfulness - feel in short supply.
Once Mr Armani said that “Elegance is not standing out, but being remembered.”
His life, his ideas of style will not easily be forgotten.
Love,
Annie xx