“Elegance is everything less than dress.” A highly meaningful phrase that encapsulates a world of poise, gesture, grace and style. Since style cannot really be bought.
Giorgio Armani was the ambassador of all this because of the rigor, cleanliness and linearity he applied with utmost attention to detail, which he placed in his beloved profession. Accessories included and various residences expertly furnished. We are in conversation with Marco Eugenio Di Giandomenico who has so much to tell us.
“In the late 1980s, in my late twenties, I had a modeling experience in the U.S. for important Italian fashion brands. I had the opportunity to meet Giorgio Armani personally at a time of great development of his fashion house and of all made in Italy in the United States. I remember various moments of work and conviviality. He was attentive and caring not only to the models but also to all the staff involved in the various initiatives. He had an almost maniacal approach to work. Nothing escaped his notice, he got into the merits of every detail of the fashion shows, he personally controlled all aspects of organization, communication and promotion so much so that in each of his events he was always the Deus ex machina of any production process. Incredibly, it was a rare case in which creativity was perfectly combined with entrepreneurial spirit, managing to achieve from time to time results that were almost always more important than expected, than budgeted. Among the memories, one day, during one of his work breaks, he approached us models and between jokes said, “Marco Eugenio is so much more than fashion!” At the time I did not understand. Today, almost forty years later, those words resonate in my mind. Thanks to his great acumen perhaps he had already glimpsed what would later be my life path devoted to art.”
Today, what exactly are you involved in?
“For thirty years I have been working as an art critic and curator in Italy and abroad, with great human and professional satisfaction and with one foot always in the university world (Politecnico di Milano, Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera, Università Statale di Milano and various other universities) where I have always lectured in my subjects. The youthful experience of fashion has given me a lot. First and foremost, it allowed me to know my body and its communicative potential, as well as a canvas for a painter or a block of marble for a sculptor.Then it taught me the art of the show, of the relationship with the public, in pleasing any interlocutor, dispelling the insecurities and fears typical of a 20-year-old, especially in those years.”
Well, let’s come to us by going into specifics. Why ‘King’ George?
“Well, he founded his company at the age of 41 in 1975. The British press crowned him with that title, and from then on he became the “King of Fashion” in the collective imagination because of his inventions of style and elegance. The 1982 cover of ‘Time’ read, Giorgio’s Gorgeous Style, in a play on assonant words as if the splendor of style and stylings was inherent in its creator.”
Shall we go into the unstructured?
“A deconstructed jacket is a light, soft and flexible garment without or with reduced shoulder pads, inner canvas and padding that characterize more traditional jackets. A construction that reduces stiffness giving a relaxed and comfortable fit, suitable for a ‘smart – casual style – combining elegance and ease. Let us remember that it was a forerunner of ‘genderless’ by overcoming the classic stereotypes of ‘male’ and ‘female’. Simply put, he wrapped the wearer without padding with innovative and lightweight fabrics while indulging and enhancing the natural lines of the body. The result was…is! That of expression of natural sensuality without superstructures. Magnificent to immerse oneself in “a second skin” in extreme naturalness since elegance arises precisely from the dialogue between body and dress. Armani’s style and elegance are also sealed in the media by Richard Gere in “American Gigolo’ from 1980, a very famous film written and directed by Paul Schrader.”
Decrying worldwide success.
“Adding that Richard Gere was anointed a sex-symbol on a planetary level as he was able to express a new male sensuality conditioning the style of all subsequent generations. Lauren Hutton dressed in the pantsuit and flat shoes in extreme ease, enhanced the silhouette by decrying the dress in line with a new social position of the working woman, expressing herself in work activities equal to those of men.”
A few days before his death he had purchased the Capannina in Forte dei Marmi.
“That’s right, a real emotional gesture with a lot of going back to his roots. It was precisely at the Fort in the 1960s that he met his companion and later partner Sergio Galeotti. I take advantage by noting that the legendary venue founded in 1929 by Achille Franceschi and then in 1977 acquired and run by Gherardo and Carla Guidi, had been a wonderful setting for unrepeatable years full of dreams and aspirations later realized.”
Is it true that when Galeotti Armani died he declared that a part of him had died with such a loss?
“Without a doubt, as the sensitive man he was he suffered greatly from this. Undoubtedly. A great love affair with the one who had started the fashion house adventure.”
Opening up the universe to him. And to think that he had started out as a window dresser.
“Nooo, he wasn’t window dresser, he started by checking the window dressers at the Rinascente, which is a whole other job.”
Speaking of window displays, a few years ago he was caught on camera by much of the media putting the finishing touches on a mannequin in one of his boutiques.
“An image that went viral. I’ve said it before: the man he was. Simple, industrious, endowed with enormous ingenuity.”
Elegance is not to be noticed but to be remembered.
“His real ‘must’ that fits him like a glove “
Anything else to add?
“I would not burden more time by giving space for good rationality and good luster.”
Armani Style.
The article Extravagance and entrepreneurship: simply Giorgio Armani comes from TheNewyorker.
