Associate professor of Italian Studies | author | entrepreneur | host & creator of the YouTube channel Italian Innovators
Armani’s elegance, which is now widely recognized across the globe, evolved in dialogue with the style of his “rival” Gianni Versace, in a competition that compelled the two artists to find, refine, and improve their unique languages. ? Their polarity during the 1980s and 1990s belongs to a larger narrative framework in Italian culture, which dates back to the Middle Ages. You might recall here the literary opposition of Dante and Petrarch, but rival heroes is quite a common trope later too: from the Renaissance duels of Michelangelo and Raphael, or Ariosto and Tasso, to the Baroque clash of the Roman architects Bernini and Borromini. These aesthetic and cultural feuds also translate into 20th century sports, as we see in the cycling battles of Coppi and Bartali in the 1950s, or the soccer enmity of Mazzola and Rivera in the 1970s. ? In this context, then, the Armani-Versace rivalry should not be read through an antagonist cliché, fueled by opposing fan bases, but rather as an illuminating situation, heightening the visibility of each artist’s distinctive traits. In this light, their styles can be summarized in an essential antinomy: simplicity vs eccentricity, or, in other words, minimalism vs hyper-decoration. In contrast with Versace’s colorful, unconventional, and quirky style, Armani aspired to create a sophisticated balance of theatricality and effortlessness, ultimately embodying the notion that fashion, in his words, “is not about being noticed, but about being remembered”. It follows that Armani’s unstructured lines and clean cuts are not blunt simplifications, but rather the outcome of subtraction, aimed at achieving empowerment through understatement. ? Check out the full episode at ?? bit.ly/innovatorsarmani #italianinnovators #fashion #armani #versace
