‘To create something exceptional, your mindset must be relentlessly focused on the smallest detail.’ - Giorgio Armani. It’s a line that sums up Armani’s entire career. The Italian designer, who has died yesterday, built his empire on precision - tiny shifts in cut, fabric, and proportion that changed how the world understood elegance.
In the 1980s, those details came together in his most famous creation: the power suit. It wasn’t stiff or corporate; it was sharp yet fluid, serious yet seductive. Suddenly women could walk into boardrooms and ballrooms with the same authority as men and look even better doing it. If you’ve ever admired an iconic suit on screen or the red carpet, chances are it had Armani’s touch.
Case in point: Julia Roberts at the Golden Globes in 1990. Instead of a gown, she accepted her Steel Magnolias win in an oversized Armani men’s suit - grey, slouch, and all. The tailoring was light, but it was the detail (a slightly relaxed shoulder, the exact drape of the trousers) that turned a ‘borrowed from the boys’ moment into red carpet history.
Roberts later admitted to British Vogue, it’s still one of her favourite outfits: ‘I found it in the men’s department at Armani and they had an in-store tailor. I could not have known it was going to become this statement outfit, and I still have that suit.’ That’s Armani’s legacy: moments crafted with detail so exact they’ll never date.
Yesterday the actress took to her instagram and posted a picture with Mr Armani, captioned: ‘A true friend. A Legend. 💔’ - a touching tribute to the designer, turned friend, who shaped her red carpet moments.
Renee Washington, Grazia's digital fashion and beauty writer, lives online. With a penchant for wispy lashes and streetwear, she writes about the worlds of fashion and beauty from the viewpoint of the modern fashion girlie..
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