Simonetta Gianfelici tells Giorgio Armani: “It represented me more than many other stylists with whom I worked”

«I am enormously sorry for his disappearance. Perhaps I never focused, if not at this moment, to think about how revolutionary it was. I realize just now, trying to retrace those years ». Simonetta Gianfelici has never paraded for Giorgio Armani, not even at the height of his legendary career from top model When he treaded the catwalks of the entire contested globe between Thierry Mugler and Versace. Still, the two shared a certain vision of things. Once in a mutual respect and appreciation, which cross the professional sphere.

Simonetta Gianfelici during the Mugler Spring-summer 1996 parade.

Victor Virgile/Getty Images

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To unite them there are also first steps taken by the case – she started fashionable by one of her professor of the artistic high school, he as a windowist to the Rinascente -, the space dedicated to young talents and, above all, evolving without being changing the trends: “Because the people who have style are not”.

How did you meet, you and Giorgio Armani?
«The occasions were many, especially at Palazzo Morando when I followed the contest Who’s on Next. There was a mutual esteem, despite when I started working like top model In the 80s I was certainly not his ideal woman – not enough androgynous enough for her aesthetic. But, incredibly, I often dressed in life in life. I felt it very similar to my personality: rigorous, minimal, but at the same time relaxed, made of great quality and attention to detail ».

So did he feel represented by his clothes?
«Absolutely yes. It certainly represented me more than many other stylists with whom I had, for heaven’s sake, the pleasure and luck to work. For this I can understand his choices there are some traits in which I recognize myself, how to embrace a silent elegance, choose to remove rather than adding, trying to get to a synthesis to express not only his own style, but his own way of being and thinking ».

What was the first impression he had of him?
«I do not hide you that it inspired authority. For his ways, for that dedication to work, for his being so faithful to himself. This also call him “King Giorgio”, “Mr. Armani” … his figure imposed a certain respect, and deserved it. In the early years we met there was a kind of reverential fear. In reality, he was a person who looked straight in his eyes, with the same attention to the details he paid in his work. I felt seen ».

Simonetta Gianfelici at the event The Next Green Talents 2018.

Simonetta Gianfelici at the event The Next Green Talents, 2018.

Vincenzo Lombardo/Getty Images

What is the memory that the more binds to him?
«There is no particular moment, apart from, in fact, this gaze, these eyes. I don’t know how to tell you, despite the chaos of the work and the extremely worldly situations, the feeling was that in those few moments he totally granted his attention ».

He has repeatedly said he had always kept diaries. Can you tell us an anecdote that keeps black on white?
«I have never written about it, but I remember that a casting told me that I had too Mediterranean hips! (laughs, ed.) Everyone told me that he did not matter if the photos were taken by Aldo Fallai, by Peter Lindbergh or anyone else, because his direction was precise. The evidence of his also followed Mannequins suggesting the attitude. I remember this very well ».

Today, what do you think Giorgio Armani has left fashionable?
«It leaves an indelible mark, but not only in fashion, also in costume, in cinema, in visual culture in general. A form of revolution, in advance of the minimalism of the 90s: that male redefined gently and that authority to women without aggression or ostentation. He redefined a concept of elegance without clamor, building a language of essentiality and refinement, which has become a flag all over the world. I have the feeling that ends an era, even if I am sure that with his family and his team, everything he built will not be lost. “

And what did you leave to you?
«That it is possible to remain consistent with yourself and that success comes when you put commitment and dedication in what you love. Despite the effort and all the renunciations. He had a 360 -degree vision of his aesthetic: as in his clothes, not to be upset by the superfluous was his way of life ».

Simonetta Gianfelici at the Dior Haute Couture fashion show Autumnainverno 199596.

Simonetta Gianfelici at the Dior Haute Couture fashion show autumn-winter 1995/96.

Victor Virgile/Getty Images

Source: Vanity Fair

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