How Giorgio Armani mastered the artwork of outfitting Hollywood stars to promote garments to the lots

The death of Giorgio Armani marks the passing of one in every of Italy’s most influential vogue designers.

As somebody who research the intersection of fashion, media and entertainment, I feel one of many designer’s most spectacular feats is how he harnessed Hollywood to increase the worldwide attain of his model.

Born in Piacenza in 1934, Armani deserted medical faculty in 1954 to work at Milan’s La Rinascente division retailer. There, he developed a ardour for materials and first realized about vogue licensing, a enterprise technique that allowed manufacturers to promote luxurious designs at reasonably priced costs to middle-class prospects.

Observing how the licensed strains of designer Pierre Cardin retailed at La Rinascente at decrease costs, Armani got here to grasp that diversifying a model to attraction to totally different buyer teams may very well be a worthwhile technique for international growth.

When he went off on his personal in 1975 to co-found his personal model with architect Sergio Galeotti, Armani quickly discovered success by executing easy, relaxed tailoring that rejected the stiff formality of conventional fits.

In 1978, he signed an settlement with Gruppo Finanziario Tessile to provide luxurious, ready-to-wear clothes underneath his shut supervision. That deal gave rise to the Giorgio Armani Corporation and its a number of strains geared toward worldwide markets.

Introducing reasonably priced luxurious to America

Armani’s first ready-to-wear line debuted within the U.S. in 1979.

The designer had appointed Edward Glantz, a former worker at Barney’s New York, because the product growth coordinator for Giorgio Armani U.S.

Glantz was tasked with adapting Armani’s products for Americans, who had been accustomed to low-maintenance, reasonably priced clothes. He labored to make sure the designs retained their relaxed magnificence by utilizing permanent-press materials, which require much less ironing than pure fibers, whereas incorporating cheaper supplies to cut back prices.

In Milan, Armani’s jackets retailed for US$600, whereas his fits went for $800. In the U.S., costs for his sports activities and formal-wear strains ranged from $150 to $450, and may very well be discovered at department shops corresponding to Bergdorf Goodman and Nan Dusking.

But many Americans encountered Armani’s garments for the primary time whereas watching the 1980 movie “American Gigolo.” The protagonist, Julian Kay, a high-priced escort performed by Richard Gere, wears light-weight Armani fits that may be worn with a tie for a proper look or paired with denims and a polo shirt for a extra informal model. Part of the trick for this relaxed look concerned utilizing softer textiles that had been generally used for womenswear.

As fashion scholar John Potvin noted, “The film introduced American audiences to a visual style which has been much imitated since. Its wardrobe launched Giorgio Armani in the U.S. and … consolidated Richard Gere’s sex symbol image.”

The designs featured within the movie got here from the white label Armani Collezioni – Armani’s extra reasonably priced line focused at American shoppers – that means audiences might watch Julian’s wardrobe on display screen and buy the same items in shops.

Over the course of the last decade, power dressing – donning outfits that talk authority, competence and confidence – was in vogue, additional fueling the popularity of Armani’s glossy, broad-shouldered fits. In 1982, Armani grew to become simply the second designer in historical past to seem on the cover of Time magazine.

But Hollywood is the place he continued to flex his model’s muscle tissues. Over the years, he outfitted characters in additional than 200 movies.

Titles corresponding to “The Untouchables” (1987) and, extra not too long ago, “The Wolf of Wall Street” (2013) featured hard-charging leads who donned Armani fits, reinforcing the model’s repute as an emblem of favor and energy. During this time, Armani managed to earn a repute as a master tailor, although his fits had been 70% machine-made and partially manufactured in Hong Kong.

Selling ‘prestige and dreams’

Recognizing the significance of superstar publicity, Armani employed Wanda McDaniel in 1988 as his West Coast liaison to coordinate Hollywood A-listers’ wardrobes for on- and off-screen appearances.

A former journalist turned Hollywood housewife, McDaniel had noticed how entrepreneur Fred Hayman had pampered purchasers at his Rodeo Drive boutique, Giorgio Beverly Hills – no relation to Armani – making him the go-to clothing store for Hollywood elites.

She labored to use that very same VIP therapy for purchasers at Armani’s newly inaugurated Rodeo Drive flagship retailer, which opened in August 1988 to cater to Hollywood celebrities and what the Los Angeles Times described as “the generic working rich.”

In the Nineties, McDaniel grew to become the president of the Rodeo Drive Committee, a nonprofit group for native enterprise and property house owners to form and promote the procuring district. It had been based by Hayman, who was additionally serving because the Oscars’ vogue coordinator.

Armani quickly grew to become frequently name-dropped throughout media protection of the pink carpet, with commentators gushing over the Armani attire – and, generally, unisex fits – that actresses donned as they posed for the cameras. Armani later mentioned that the robes worn on the Oscars were always the first to sell out in his collections.

The designer’s consciousness of the leisure trade’s promotional energy solely grew over time, with the corporate’s Entertainment Industry Relations department – which remains to be energetic – overseeing superstar relationships and styling for the corporate’s numerous strains. This paved the way in which for different vogue homes to ascertain their very own in-house VIP groups.

Reflecting on the importance of the pink carpet to his profession, Armani once said, “It is about prestige and dreams, but those lead to dollars and cents.”