L'Italo-Americano

L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2025 www.italoamericano.org 4 F rom turtlenecks to jeans, Western s h i r t s t o w i d e - b r i m m e d h a t s , s u e d e b o o t s t o tailored suits, popped-collar jackets to T-shirts, velvet cre- a t i o n s t o r o l l e d - u p s h i r t sleeves. Robert Redford – elegant, exacting, and quietly restless – left us a catalogue of iconic films and a style that influenced men's fashion for decades. H e b u i l t h i s c h a r a c t e r s with a refined touch, seen not only in his magnetic gaze but in wardrobes chosen with care. Many of his roles are memorable also because of how he looked in them: much of Johnny Hooker in The Sting, Denys Finch Hatton in Out of Africa, or Hubbell Gardiner in The Way We Were comes through in the clothes. It's true that on one of Hollywood's most iconic actors almost anything looks impeccable; but to make a character believable, you have to let him "live in his c l o t h e s : " i f y o u ' r e t h e reporter exposing Watergate in All the President's Men, y o u h a v e t o r o l l u p y o u r s l e e v e s , l o o s e n y o u r t i e , unbutton your collar. Even off-set, Redford's choices, casual or polished, f i l l e d g l o s s y p a g e s a n d broadened the vocabulary of how men dress. W h e n h e r e c e i v e d t h e Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement in 2017, this giant of the screen, who was also a tireless activist and champion of independent c i n e m a , c h o s e , n o t b y chance, a great Italian name; at the Venice International Film Festival premiere of Our Souls at Night, he honored Italy by wearing a simple, flawless tuxedo from a house that, since 1975, has been a byword for Made-in- I t a l y s t y l e : G i o r g i o Armani. "The only limit," said the Piacenza-born designer, who died at 91, "is good taste." Giorgio Armani passed away just twelve days before Redford, after fifty years at the summit of fashion and after reshaping how we think about elegance and style. Visionary and pragmatic at once, Armani anchored a way of dressing and a way of u n d e r s t a n d i n g f a s h i o n : beautifully made and cre- a t i v e , n e v e r e x c e s s i v e o r provocative. "Elegance is not a b o u t b e i n g n o t i c e d , b u t about being remembered," he would say. Collection after collection, he helped build a culture around Italian fashion. "I'm neither a couturier nor a tai- lor; I'm someone who creates a style, a designer." And that is what he did. He innovated without abandoning tradi- tion, a master of tailoring and a pioneer at once; he turned his idea of dressing into an international bench- mark. Just five years ago, in an open letter in Women's Wear Daily, the interna- tional bible of fashion, he s u m m e d u p h i s v i e w : " I t makes no sense for one of my jackets or suits to sit in a s t o r e f o r t h r e e w e e k s , b e c o m e o b s o l e t e , a n d b e replaced by new merchan- dise that isn't much different from what came before. I don't work like that; I find it i m m o r a l . I ' v e a l w a y s believed in timeless elegance, i n m a k i n g g a r m e n t s t h a t suggest only one way to buy them: that they last." No disposable clothing. No shock value, scandal, or excess. Rather, method and quality to bring out the wear- er's personality. The golden rule – for everyone, stars included – was only one: "Never let the clothes 'wear' you; you wear them. Armani worked extensive- ly in film – he handled cos- tumes for more than 200 movies – and with celebri- ties. As early as 1988, he opened a VIP Dressing Office in Los Angeles, sensing the pull of red carpets and galas long before Instagram. H i s b r e a k t h r o u g h o n screen came with American Gigolo (1980). In the scene where Julian Kay (Richard Gere) fans Armani pieces across the bed to choose his evening look, the clothes t h e m s e l v e s b e c o m e t h e object of desire. Those few seconds became an iconic moment in fashion and cine- ma, making the wardrobe part of the story and shaping a generation's taste. Armani cemented Made in Italy with jackets, shirts, and ties s e t t o m u s i c , w h i l e G e r e turned into a sex symbol in soft trousers and earth tones, the image of modern ele- g a n c e . T h e n c a m e T h e Untouchables, The Wolf of Wall Street, The Social Net- work. About a decade later, came a second red-carpet s h i f t : i n 1 9 9 2 , A r m a n i dressed Jodie Foster as she accepted the Oscar for The S i l e n c e o f t h e L a m b s , confirming cinema as a run- way for haute couture and sealing the now inseparable bond between outfit and per- From Milano to the world: Giorgio Armani's enduring legacy of grace and precision BARBARA MINAFRA NEWS & FEATURES TOP STORIES PEOPLE EVENTS CONTINUED TO PAGE 6 Giorgio Armani (above) has been a beacon of Italian style in the world for the past 50 years. Photo: Shutterstock

• Cover