A Classic in His Own Time

Not many designers can fundamentally change the way men and women dress and still have anything fresh and valid to offer decades later.

Not many designers are Giorgio Armani. Armani, who deconstructed the suit and what it stood for, is being honored with an exhibition at New York’s Guggenheim Museum that opens today.

The Guggenheim, which is raising eyebrows in the art community for its non-traditional, populist design shows, has never staged a fashion exhibition. Even when museums have textile or costume history departments, such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York or the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, they rarely honor the work of living designers.

This exhibition, titled simply “Giorgio Armani,” examines the Milanese designer as a force in contemporary design in its thematic groupings--such as gender, architecture and design and cinema--of 400 examples covering 25 years of his work.

At 66, only Armani’s neatly combed white hair reveals signs of age on a body that he keeps toned enough to proudly wear trim-fitting T-shirts for his runway bows. The reserved and formal designer remains an equally vital force in many levels from high fashion to jeans.

Barely two weeks ago in his subterranean Milan auditorium, Armani presented his spring 2001 women’s collection, which was received as one of the best in Milan and one of his best in recent years. Earlier that day, the one-time window dresser for La Rinascente, a Milan department store, opened his own Armani megastore nearby. Called Armani/Via Manzoni 31, the three-level store houses all the things essential to the good life--flowers, books, food, his new home furnishings line and, of course, Armani clothing. Every item in the vast space reflects his unique reconciliation of Asian minimalism and restraint with Western luxury and comfort, a blend that promises to be valid long into the 21st century.

An Armani suit remains an emblem of refined good taste. Wearing one is a rejection of trendiness, though it’s not the revolutionary act that it was decades ago. That’s when Armani ripped the linings, the padding and the stiffness from men’s suits and let the fabric flow over the body. Revealing the male form, instead of abstracting it with unyielding structure, made the clothes more sensual but not less powerful. He did the same for women’s wear, educating women to the sensual possibilities of the suit by making it less masculine with fluid lines and neutral colors.

It’s no wonder that the designer’s name has become synonymous with the Hollywood power elite (and not by accident.) A legendary control freak, Armani set up offices in New York and Los Angeles long before other ready-to-wear designers thought to exploit the marketing potential of celebrities. His staffers courted the most influential people in the public eye--agent Michael Ovitz, NBA coach Pat Riley--who gave the supple clothes a macho stamp of approval. The payoff for the designer’s efforts comes each March, when Armani-clad Oscar nominees stroll the world’s most recognizable red carpet.

Armani laid out the pattern of celebrity courtship that continues still: build “relationships” with stars, teach them how to wear your clothes, give them press exposure with front-row seats at your fashion shows and, in short, show them how to be refined and tasteful to avoid the “worst dressed” lists. While other designers court whoever happens to be the flavor of the moment, Armani has carefully cultivated the intelligent artist--Jodie Foster, Annette Bening, Glenn Close, Anjelica Huston and Eric Clapton. He’s made pop idols such as Ricky Martin and Mark Wahlberg look smarter just for wearing his clothes.

While the designer pursued celebrities, movie audiences inadvertently began their romance with the Armani legend in 1980, when Richard Gere in “American Gigolo” laid out a wealth of Armani-label clothes on his bed and made them a new symbol of male potency. His movie wardrobe credits continued with “The Untouchables,” “Shaft” and, given his latest convert, Miramax chief Harvey Weinstein, more in the future. After seeing his first Armani show two weeks ago in Milan, Weinstein said he’s eager to work with the designer to wardrobe Miramax movies.

It’s easy to discredit a designer who is best known for dressing only the rich and famous. But Armani’s lasting contribution to fashion came so early in his career that it has taken 25 years to recognize how prescient he was. Armani is about comfort. His women’s pantsuits look best with flat shoes. The men’s suits pair more naturally with a sweater than a cinched-up shirt and tie. He understood that clothing doesn’t have to draw lines between hard and soft, male and female or dressed up and casual to be beautiful.