Why Giorgio Armani never abandoned Melania Trump… even though he had rude things to say about her husband

When asked whether he would dress the incoming First Lady, Melania Trump, back in 2017, Giorgio Armani’s response was succinct.

‘Why shouldn’t I dress a beautiful woman?’ he told Women’s Wear Daily. ‘This goes beyond politics.’

By ‘this,’ of course, Armani meant fashion.

Armani’s death at the age of 91 marks not only the passing of a great designer, but perhaps the loss of one of the last of his caliber to eschew the intrusion of politics in the world of high fashion, and publicly stand by Melania.

Though when it came to her husband, Armani perhaps rather damned him with faint praise, noting that Donald Trump, the then incumbent president, had ‘improved physically,’ he said: ‘He is slimmer, his tuft of hair is less big and it’s less cob-like.’

In truth, Melania has only infrequently chosen to wear Armani, but the legendary designer’s stance emphasized the universality of the fashion empire he created over a career that spanned fifty years.

In that time Armani became the byword for sleek tailoring for both women and men. In the 1980s his suits became de rigeur in Wall Street corner offices, Madison Avenue boardrooms and even in Washington, DC’s corridors of power. 

At the same time the tanned Italian designer, with almost cinematic good looks, transformed the Hollywood red carpet through a skillful blend of his expert tailoring and understated elegance. 

He was one of the first designers to give his clothes free of charge to public figures – pioneering the practice of celebrity dressing which has now become a fundamental part of the fashion world.

His decision to offer his services to director Paul Schrader for the 1980 film, American Gigolo, not only inspired a touchstone for well-dressed men everywhere, but offered a foretaste for what Hollywood and European high fashion could do when working in tandem.

Indeed, his history of red-carpet dressing offers not just a window into the evolution of the Armani brand, but one into half a century of celebrity dressing.  

In 1978 Diane Keaton stunned the audience of the 50th Academy Awards by donning a tailored double breasted Armani jacket to accept her Best Actress Oscar for her androgynously styled lead role in Annie Hall. Armani was a fledgling designer, all but unknown in Hollywood, and the bold look offered a foretaste of his revolutionary approach to both female workwear and red-carpet dressing.  

Julia Roberts was a relative ingenue when she accepted her Best Supporting Actress Golden Globe for her breakout role in Steel Magnolias in 1990. She chose to do so in a silver grey, loosely fitted Armani suit, thus securing herself a place in fashion history. Roberts chose the look, both subtle and sexy, after a visit to the fabled designer’s Rodeo Drive boutique. In an instant Armani became the defacto designer for the modern female power suit.

Armani continued to build his brand by merging his design business with the glitz of old Hollywood glamour. Just two years later he transformed Jodi Foster’s somewhat frumpy image by selecting a shimmering cream pantsuit from his Spring/Summer 1992 collection for that year’s Oscars ceremony. The streamlined silhouette offered the crowning touch to the actress as she picked up her second, Best Actress Oscar for her lead role in Silence of the Lambs. 

Hollywood golden child Gwyneth Paltrow opted for a sheer Cher-like Armani gown of sparkly embroidery for the premiere of Shakespeare in Love – a movie that would garner the actress an Oscar. The look showcased not only Armani’s love of a sleek silhouette but the evolution of his designs from chic androgyny to full-scale red-carpet glamour. 

When Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise married in Rome in 2006, they turned to Armani, by then widely acknowledged as the master of Italian couture. Holmes’s off-the-shoulder gown, with an ivory silk train adorned in Valenciennes lace and Swarovski beaded crystal embroidery, grabbed as many headlines as her husband-to-be’s couch-jumping antics. Also outfitting the groom and their 7-month-old-daughter Suri, Armani proved he possessed a skill set that encompassed not only the core strengths of his international brand, but the bespoke glamor that has since become a hallmark of the modern celebrity wedding. 

Armani’s reputation as the go-to designer for power dressing made him a natural choice for female politicians. Hilary Clinton frequently turned to the Italian’s structured but understated pantsuits. Though far from the first female politician to favor designer duds, Clinton came under scrutiny when she appeared in June 2016 in an Armani jacket costing upwards of $12,000 for a speech on American income inequality. The moment underscored the fraught relationship between women politicians and their clothes – where dressing is yet another field in which criticism (and praise) can translate into electoral success. 

It may not have been her night – she lost out to newcomer Mikey Madison in the category of Best Actress – but, dressed in a custom Giorgio Armani gown featuring crystal embroidery, a plunging neckline and a pleated bustle that transitioned into a dramatic train, Demi Moore looked every inch the Hollywood diva at this year’s Oscar ceremony. Light years away from Diane Keaton’s appearance forty-seven years earlier, Moore’s look was testament to Armani’s ability to evolve his aesthetic to fit the needs of the moment whilst remaining true to his roots in Italian couture.