Giorgio Armani felt that the relationship between his work and cinema was essential, both in promoting his iconic designs and for the artistic stimulus that came with creative collaboration. His decades-long collaboration with the film industry began in 1980, when he became involved in the costume-making for the breakthrough Hollywood film of the Grand Rapids-born auteur, Paul Schrader, American Gigolo—specifically for actor Richard Gere who played the main character Julian Kaye. The film would help to publicize the Armani name, especially a scene involving Gere yanking open a drawer of Armani shirts, perfectly folded with the labels exposed, not to mention Gere's wearing of four different Armani outfits throughout the film. This connection to the film industry projected his name and brand to a much broader audience. Through his costume designs, Armani would go on to shape the look and feel of more than one hundred films.
With the passing on Thursday of this legend of fashion design, Foley Schuler, on Friday afternoon will feature music from what remains one the most important of the over 100 films for which Armani clothed in his iconic look—Brian DePalma's 1987 masterpiece, The Untouchables, with Kevin Costner as Elliot Ness, dressed in full Armani understated splendor as he goes after Al Capone in gangster-era Chicago. We'll hear the sound of Armani in the form of a suite drawn from Ennio Morricone's unforgettable score, and more, Friday afternoon.
You can hear Foley Schuler's musical selections—and stories behind the music—every weekday afternoon from 1 until 4 on Blue Lake Public Radio.
