Giorgio Armani, 87, as a true visionary in the fashion world and one of the humanitarians on and off the runway, the Italian designer has always emphasized and insisted on respect, respect for women and respect for clothing.
Pink gauze dresses, earrings and gold pointed heels are all Armani Privé
Mr. often uses the word "rispetto". It means respect, and the word applies to many aspects of his life and work. For example, he respects consumers who wear his clothes. "If you present them with a style in one season and the next you change direction completely, what do they do? Throw those clothes away? That's not a respectful consumer approach. "He used to describe his mother in terms of dignity and rigor, and for him, the combination of these two words explains the meaning of respect." It's a concept, and if you don't have it, or don't know it, you can't respect others. ”
Mr. Armani has great respect for others: his employees, colleagues and the community in which he lives. In February 2020, he was the first designer to present the collection without a live audience due to fears of a Covid-19 outbreak in northern Italy. (He took his place with live presentations, which quickly became the new normal.) When the epidemic spread throughout Italy, including Milan, where ARMANI is headquartered, and caused devastating damage, out of respect and a sense of responsibility, Mr. Armani converted the brand's entire production facility in Italy into the manufacture of disposable medical workwear and donated about $2.2 million to hospitals across Italy, enabling them to urgently procure ventilators and PPE (Personal Protective Equipment). At the beginning of 2021, Mr. Armani also transformed the Milan Theatre, which he usually uses to launch and present ready-to-wear fashion shows, into a vaccination centre.
In July 2021, in the gilded salon of the Italian Embassy in Paris, I sat across from Mr. Armani and his two interpreters, both wearing masks and maintaining a safe distance, and in a few hours it would be the first physical womenswear show in his 17 months to invite guests to the launch site. We got together to talk about his latest collection, Armani Privé's Fall/Winter 2021 collection, the brand's haute couture collection.
The series is called "Shine," Mr. Armani told me, because it has to give a sense of "wonder." Later on the series's launch show, guests will see slim-cut, glossy velvet coats embellished with crystal buttons, embroidered patterns decorated with feather-light sequins, and augen-gauze evening dresses wrapped around layers of passionate ruffles. Mr. Armani muttered with his head bowed. His translator coughed a few times and said, "He said that some people in the fashion industry, unfortunately, don't care at all about making women more beautiful. "Mr. Armani looks a little emotional at this point." They want to talk more about themselves. About clothes and not women. ”
Giorgio Armani Privé Haute Couture AW21 collection
In this collection, Mr. Armani incorporates works from his Spring 2021 fashion collection, inspired by Milan, and presented through film in January. "It shows a continuity of design." Mr Armani said. This is characteristic of his work , a series of slow and sensitive evolutions. The clothes he designed wouldn't be outdated right away. In this regard, he is very similar to Coco Chanel, who told me that Chanel is a designer he admires. To prove the continuity of the above, brand ambassadors such as Cate Blanchett have also worn Armani Privé's previous seasons to attend red carpet events. Given this persistence, and the inherent qualities of haute couture that go against the idea of one-off, I asked him if it was possible that he thought haute couture was anti-fashion. He smiled first and laughed. "I'm personally anti-fashion, but haute couture is another matter." He said, "It's not anti-fashion. But this paradox proves to be both instinctive and reflective, because it emphasizes an idea of elegance, a truth that is not limited by time and that can only be found in true luxury. ”
Giorgio Armani Privé Haute Couture Spring/Summer 2021 collection
Mr. Armani is not from a prominent background. He once said he didn't like to watch Italian neorealist films because that was where he once lived. Giorgio Armani was born in 1934 in the industrial city of Poacenza, about 45 miles southeast of Milan. His father worked for a transportation company and his mother, a housewife, who at one point evacuated herself and her three children to a village to escape bombing during World War II. These experiences left a deep mark on Armani, who was severely burned by exploding shells during the war and hospitalized for more than a month and nearly lost his eyesight. "We're stuck at home." "Some people were lucky that they could be protected, but others weren't," he recalled. People really experience being bombarded, not rhetorical metaphors. It was torture. But I was very young at the time, so it was hard for me to really realize that I was scared. Apparently, hearing the plane coming, entering the cellar, being covered and protected ... I remember all of this. ”
Mr. Armani is now 87 years old. His eponymous label was founded in 1975, but it took him 30 years to start creating haute couture collections. Haute Couture was never a money-making machine, but a way for designers to express themselves creatively and a way to cater to 0.01% of people.
Colourful bandeau dress Armani Privé
"The idea of launching a haute couture collection is not a fantasy or a desire for novelty." "Rather, he says, give the answer to a simple phenomenon: I already have discerning clients who need to wear special clothes for special occasions." In 2005, I wanted to respond to this question with a dedicated series for consumers that would express and present features and silhouettes that could not be achieved in mass production. Ultimately, I can say that a certain pragmatism helped me make this choice, which has been the case almost always in my career. ”
"However, haute couture is often an area where Mr. Armani can relax. He presented his wilder side with an exhibition called "Eccentrico" in Milan in 2012. Mainly from his Armani Privé collection, which highlights his works inspired by Chinese and Japanese cultures, clothes decorated with jewelry and feathers. Invented in the 1980s and revolutionizing the fashion world, the iconic wide-shouldered design with a confident silhouette did not appear in the exhibition.
"But it still meets the needs of its customers." Mr. Armani is very insistent on haute couture collections, "especially for people who want something extra, unique. This satisfies their requirements, and you'll see in this series that I've done some extra details, but it's done to be pleasing to the eye, to satisfy some kind of sensual pleasure. ”
Sleeveless satin panel dress Armani Privé
I asked questions about the financial and economic hardships he experienced growing up in post-war Italy, wondering if his taste for pastel colours, pure, honest fabrics and his self-proclaimed pragmatism stemmed from this moment. But for him, it's about something simpler and more direct. "The first and most difficult thing is to fill your stomach," he said, "followed by the joy of watching movies, and these are the things I remember." At that time, walking outside at night, I could see the light in the sky, and there was no curfew. It's important to be able to do that. ”
It's hard not to link Mr. Armani's personal memories to our shared experiences over the past two years. What would he think we need to get out of fashion now? "For me, the core of haute couture is beauty, which can be reassuring, comforting, and soothing. That's what people are looking for after such a difficult time. "I started from personal experience because I grew up in the postwar period and I saw firsthand how people created a universal need for beauty during those dark years of conflict." ”
Mr. Armani's ideal beauty stems from his childhood. His penchant for art deco and the aesthetics of the 1930s, his love of the Golden Age of Hollywood, is reflected in the men in fine suits he presents and the slim evening gowns, whether heavily tailored or beaded. They have their economic ideas. Mr Armani is a minimalist who, even in his richest designs, cuts glossy fabrics into clean shapes without fuss or overcomplication. "I must say that I don't feel like I've been honored in women's fashion somehow." He said, "What I did was I would always be remembered for the '80s and that dress. But I did a lot of things, and if you look back, I really think other people, did it after that as well. He shrugged. But, you know, being plagiarized is also a prestigious thing. With that, he raised an eyebrow.
Mr. Armani gave the example of "something small. He called them, "For example, when I was making evening dresses, I decided to put them together a long time ago. "It's something he's been doing since the early '80s." Everybody says, no, you can't do that. It has to be high heels. But I think, no, I want people in this dress to be as free as they are in an apron. The glamour changed instantly. "Interestingly, Mr Armani is talking about glamour and women, not looks or models, just as he's talking about style not fashion but style." I don't do art, I make clothes. "But if my name could be remembered in 50 years for something related to a certain style, I'd feel good." He paused. Fashion can have some incredible climaxes and some ingenious moments, but it can also sometimes have something completely meaningless, just to talk about or make noise. And I think style is on a completely different level of change. ”
Mr. Armani is about to pass through the ninth decade of his life, and he seems to be thinking about the future. He has been thinking about the meaning of fashion today, questioning its never-ending seasons, questioning its inherent obsolescence. It's worth emphasizing that he feels he's been doing this all his career: respecting women, respecting clothing, and perhaps disrespecting fashion and the fashion system.
"I don't think it 's [fashion] changed much, from what I did before Covid to what I'm doing now." Mr Armani said, "I've always wanted to make some important clothes that the wearer really needs. So I feel respected at the time; so do I now. "He stopped and thought." I'm not going to change. "You have to respect that.
The original article was published in the January 2022 issue of Harper's Bazaar
Edit/ABBY
Photography by Lukas Wassmann
Text/Alexander Fury
Compile/Yu Zi Qian
Styling/Marc Goehring
Model/Lisa Han
Hairstyle /Daniele Falzone
Makeup /Tanja Friscic
Producer/Circus Studios