Giorgio Armani
Another Italian designer with a unique vision, Giorgio Armani was born in 1936 in Piacenza, Italy. During his early years, he dabbled in different careers, including photography and medicine. Like Halston, a stint as a window dresser at a department store opened up new horizons…
After working for renowned fashion house Nino Cerruti, he branched out on his own, delivering his first women’s wear collection in 1974. Armani’s designs were always influenced by menswear, and his immaculate tailoring and cutting gave his pieces a timeless air. He is famous for his deconstructed jackets, which feature a softer shoulder and a longer line.
Today, A-list stars such as Michelle Pfeiffer and Jodie Foster often opt for his evening suits and gowns when they walk the red carpet. Armani delivers elegance that is never overtly sexual or brash. For today’s power brokers and celebrities, owning Armani suits and separates is a status symbol – his clothes always send a message of quiet confidence.
Armani’s impact grew stronger after Richard Gere donned his designs during the filming of American Gigolo in 1980. Gere’s smoldering good looks and perfect proportions were the ideal complement to Armani’s clean, elegant pieces.
This Italian superstar’s career has not been without its ups and downs. Armani is known for being quite difficult and temperamental, and he is believed to have disliked one of his chief fashions rival in Italy, the late Gianni Versace. In 1996, he pleaded guilty to charges of corruption – he was convicted of bribing tax officials.
Valentino Garavani, better known as Valentino, was born in northern Italy in 1932. From childhood, he was interested in fashion, and he pursued apprenticeships and training from family and local designers. By his late teens, he was ready for Paris. His parents helped him to move there, and when he arrived, he began to study art and design in preparation for his chosen career.
Stints with notable fashion houses, such as Fath and Balenciaga, led him to connect with celebrities who recognized the originality and genius of his sketches. After five years with a luxe dressmaker in Paris, he was fired under a cloud of controversy; reputedly, he spent too long holidaying in Saint Tropez and was let go.
This development led to a more independent life for Valentino, who began to produce his own designs under his own name. In 1959, he returned to Italy and opened his first shop on Rome’s Via Veneto. His trademark scarlet dresses became his signature designs; women enjoyed the drama and femininity of his gowns.
In the 60’s, Valentino made a decision that would enhance his reputation; he sent Jacqueline Kennedy, the American First Lady and fashion icon, a series of his pieces to look over. She was enchanted with his designs, and even chose to wear one of his dresses when she married her second husband, Greek shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis: her influence led to greater fame and fortune in North America.
Valentino is known for his flamboyant lifestyle and his love of luxury and beauty. He lives with his lover of 50 years in a series of lush villas throughout the world. His jet-set lifestyle and extensive collection of priceless art are not the only rewards he has received for his talents: France’s President Chirac also awarded him the Legion d’Honneur in 2006.
Ralph LaurenBorn Ralph Lifshitz in 1939, this Bronx native changed his last name as a young man, due to years of cruel teasing from schoolmates. “It has shit in it”, he was known to remark, when he was questioned about his birth name and why he changed it.
Growing up, Lauren was encouraged by his mother to become a rabbi, but he chose a much different course. Influenced by the easy, preppy elegance of the country club set, as well as the glamour of old Hollywood, he chose to emulate the work of Brooks Brothers and other WASP-y retailers, creating a look that seemed to embody easy American elegance. His interest in luxury, refinement and a certain “taste level” put a different spin on the staid classics of the past.
Lauren first gained acclaim with his wide ties, which were often made of unusual fabrics. These standout accessories were not yet trendy in the late Sixties, when he began to try and sell them to New York stores. Soon, word spread about Lauren’s somewhat dandyish personal style and his flashy neckwear; he used this success to find investors and then he branched out into men’s and ladies suits and casual wear. Eventually, his clothing lines were sold at high-end stores such as Saks Fifth Avenue, where they became extremely popular.
In time, he opened his own stores, which mimicked elite mansions. Careful staging and set design made his shops unforgettable, but their construction, décor and maintenance were so expensive that they often made it difficult to turn a profit.
In the 80’s, Ralph Lauren really became a force to be reckoned with, as his signature polo shirts, with their ubiquitous polo pony and rider, became coveted items for many different demographics. Available in every color of the rainbow, they lined his coffers and allowed him to put more money into his glamorous women’s wear lines; he especially enjoyed producing couture pieces and overseeing glossy runway shows.
Ralph Lauren is known for his desire to control every facet of his company’s image: some of his ex-employees tell tales of a control freak with a quick temper and little patience for mistakes. In fact, the whole Lauren saga, with its many reversals of fortune and huge comebacks, was recorded with biting accuracy in the nasty, unauthorized tell-all book, Genuine Authentic.
Today, his basic polo shirts and khaki pants continue to remain the base of his empire, along with fragrances like Lauren (for women) and Polo, his famous men’s cologne.
Gianni VersaceFlamboyant and so very Italian, Gianni Versace was born in December of 1946 in Reggio di Calabria, Italy. Gianni’s mother owned a tiny tailoring shop, and she supported her children through her sewing. The young Versace watched and learned as a boy, adopting techniques that he would put to exemplary use later on.
After years spent helping his mother embroider and tailor garments, he decided to study architecture; by the time he was 26, he changed directions again…he knew that fashion would be his life’s work. Versace moved to Milan to pursue his dreams…
Talented and charismatic, he soon drew the attention of VIP’s in the fashion world; they appreciated his chic knitwear and his creativity. Always influenced by art, Gianni Versace drew inspiration from ancient Roman and Greek paintings and sculpture, as well as modern abstracts and Pop Art – producing bold, current designs using color, prints, and careful fitting that accentuated the lines of the body,
A steady ascent through the ranks of the fashion world led to Versace’s creative independence, by the mid-Seventies he was producing lines under his own name. He began with women’s wear, but soon starting designing for men as well.
Versace was a homosexual and lived openly as a gay man; he found true love in 1982, when he met his life partner, an Italian model named Antonio D’Amico. They remained together until Versace’s shocking death in 1997.
This man, who was known for being kind, generous, and a doting uncle, succumbed to a gunshot wound inflicted by bitter social climber Andrew Cunanan, who killed himself just a few days afterward. Versace was only 50 years old when he died.
It is a sad fact that the lurid details of Versace’s murder sometimes overshadow the vast achievements of the designer, whose over-the-top, glamorous pieces gave the supermodels of the 80’s even more power and sex appeal.
Calvin Klien
Like Halston, Calvin Klein epitomized disco glamour in the freewheeling late Seventies. His tight designer jeans, which clung to the sleek bodies of the greatest beauties of the day, including the young Brooke Shields, cemented his fame and made him millions of dollars. However, Calvin Klein’s reign continued well into the 80’s and 90’s – his spare, stripped-down designs offered a minimalist perspective that carried a very modern message. The use of sexuality in his ads was often a keystone of his success; his campaigns were designed to send overt messages and perhaps to shock. Today, his empire is still strong, despite some turbulence in the late nineties: his suits, dresses, and couture still offer a unique viewpoint.
Born in 1942 in New York, Klein also capitalized on his own charisma and lean good looks. Throughout the decades, rumors about his own sexual orientation seemed to fuel the ongoing mystique and appeal of this designer. His biggest business rival, Ralph Lauren, was believed to envy Klein’s ability to charm so effortlessly, and to “work a room”.
Klein received his education at the renowned Fashion Institute of Technology in NYC. His Calvin Klein underwear line, as well as his array of successful perfumes, helped him to build his empire. His ability to choose the sexiest, hippest stars for his ad campaigns also revealed his tremendous savvy and perceptiveness: celebs such as musician/actor Mark Wahlberg and supermodel Kate Moss also benefited from his uncanny ability to read the zeitgeist.