Early this summer Giorgio Armani wrote letters of personal invitation to close friends and longstanding collaborators, asking them to join him at his celebrated 50th-anniversary fashion show. This evening almost every one of his invited guests was able to attend an event at which the great absence was that of Mr. Armani himself.
Tonight’s event still felt like a celebration. Richard Gere, Lauren Hutton, Spike Lee, Samuel L. Jackson, Cate Blanchett and many more guests flew in to Milan. But much more than celebrating the brand, which lives on, we were celebrating the great man and great designer—arguably Italy’s greatest ever—who died aged 91 earlier this month. As we sat to watch the last Giorgio Armani show designed under the directorship of Giorgio Armani himself, Vogue Runway took the chance to ask some of those guests for their memories and impressions of the man who had invited them to join him here tonight.
Spike Lee: “He was a great artist, visionary, and humanitarian. When he reached out to me in the early part of my career to be part of a show, I didn t even know he knew me. And you can’t talk about Mr. Armani without talking about Italy. “
Tonya Lewis Lee: “I remember you had a relationship with Armani going back to the early ’90s, around Malcolm X or even before. I remember you were wearing a lot of Armani, and this was the time when there also used to be Armani shows in New York, which is a big miss now that I think about it.”
Spike Lee: “Pat Riley coaching the Lakers in Armani! And American Gigolo. That’s what really made inroads into American culture. You know, he was one of the giants. My wife and I cancelled plans to be here tonight, but there was no way we were not going to be here to pay tribute to him.”
Dries Van Noten: “I saw the first publicities of Armani, I think in the ’70s, when I was just starting to study fashion. And it was kind of a revolution for me. It was something so different. It was natural colors, it was material, it was shades, it was logos. It was an eye opener. I loved it. I wore it. It made me think. And it made me love fashion. And his vision continued. I think there is no-one who has been so consistent in his vision, for the 50 years that we are celebrating now—and we are celebrating, of course Giorgio. That for me is amazing. I really learned a lot from him.
I met him two or three times to chat. Of course, my broken Italian and his broken English meant it was not always perfect. But you felt a kind of respect to each other. And also at that moment when I stepped down, I received the most beautiful letter from him: this was really my most… it was beautiful. Really beautiful.”
Samuel L Jackson: “It was an extreme honor to personally know him. It was also for me a signal, I guess, of a certain amount of success; number one that I was able to afford it, and then that I was allowed to come into this world the way that I did, and become a person who could make suggestions and he would listen to me. He would formulate things for me. My mother taught me early on that there are certain kinds of fashion that never go out of style. And he was the person that made things that were timeless, that I valued in a different way than I did the clothes of the current era that people were wearing.
When I was with him, and I put something of his on, I knew that I was going to wear it for a very long time, and that I would cherish it. It would mean more than just an expensive purchase—it would mean that I had been able to afford something different, and that I was making the kind of choice that was for something that would make me stand out in another way. Not just in that moment, but for all time. And that relationship was something that was more valuable than just fashion. It was something that was personal. You never imagined that where you come from, that you’ll meet someone who is that iconic and that you actually have a relationship with. It was really a great honor.”
Lauren Hutton. “For me he was a living treasure. And he will live pretty much forever, or as long as we’re going to be here.
Because of American Gigolo we saw these wonderful deconstructed mens and women s clothes: they were wonderful in the same way, soft and pliable in beautiful colors and great material. But I had already been in fashion for, I don’t know, 15 years. Before him there was only Paris, twice a year. Milan was about material. Suddenly that wasn’t true anymore. So he changed it all.
And I colluded a little on him coming into Hollywood. Because I gave Armani to my friends in the Shakespeare class at the Public Theater. They were Goldie Hawn, Sally Kellerman—a whole bunch of Broadway stars and movie stars. And they all wanted to know what I was wearing: “What is that jacket? What are those pants?” And then everybody was wearing it. I knew the Academy Awards were coming up, so I said I could probably set them up with someone who could let them have it wholesale. And the next Academy Awards, it was all Armani. I still wear all of Giorgio’s clothes from 40 years ago.”
Glenn Close. “I would not have missed tonight. Just to pay homage, and for his memory. I got very tearful at the end when he wasn’t there.
I felt very personal about him. It’s not like I spent a lot of time with him, and I never went on vacations with him or anything like that. But there’s something about him that I felt very close to. Years ago when I did A Streetcar Named Desire at the National Theatre he came to see it. I’ve always felt that we had this strange, unspoken, special relationship. I would write him letters. I just talked to his nephew, who said he would translate the letters for Mr. Armani.
He dressed me for many important occasions. The first time I went to his boutique, it was just this little boutique on Madison and I bought my first, you know—where I had to spend some money—and it was a double-breasted black blazer. It was in the ’80s. It had these fabulous square shoulders. I still have it. And of course, it’s still fabulous. Right after that he lent me this beautiful dress for the Kennedy Center honors. Reagan was president. So I have this picture of me shaking Reagan’s hand in Mr. Armani’s beautiful dress. I mean, effortless!
I never went shopping as a kid. And I didn t know how to define myself in fashion, but when I got to be with Mr. Armani, I wore those beautiful suits because I felt I could be myself and I could be comfortable.”
Paul Smith: “His approach, especially to tailored clothes, was very, very revolutionary. To do with construction, softer silhouettes, longer jackets, he pioneered the trouser with no front and rear crease, the fabrics that he selected were often very liquid, very flowing. And probably what nearly everyone in this building doesn’t realize is that he was the first person to wear a T-shirt with a suit. And then a navy blue crew neck in the winter.
What was interesting tonight was the colors were familiar at the beginning: and then suddenly, that blue! And then violet, and then lovely sea green and, and, of course, the magnificent evening dresses.
Once he was guest editor of Wallpaper* magazine and he was allowed to interview one person he chose me, which was extremely humbling. We discovered we’re both independent, and we both stayed independent. My label is 55 years old this year, and his is 50. And we both like being in the shop. One of the times I first met him was in Via Durini, and he was sweeping up outside. He was very down to earth.”
Eiza González: “My mother was a model in the 1960s and ’70s in Mexico, and something that was always the ultimate dream was to be an Armani woman. I felt like the Armani woman always defined the woman that is busy, outgoing, smart, and sharp. We had this ritual where we would buy Vogue and we would scan through the pages and dream of what it would be like to be in these clothes. And Armani, the ad was always something that popped out. It was in an era where everything was incredibly feminine, and there was no space for a woman to be sort of a tomboy or like a feminine/masculine version of themselves. But Armani always pushed that narrative forward.
I met him a couple of times. At the Vanity Fair party I remember he approached me once and spoke to me, and it was a very meaningful moment in my life. I was quite young and in a world where sometimes it’s quite catastrophic, he was humane and made me feel seen. That was a huge moment for me. And he always, you know, lent me dresses and clothes for events. And so he always made me feel seen as a woman, and as an immigrant woman especially.”
