We only recently dealt with Stefano Gabbana and Domenico Dolce saying ridiculous, offensive things about gay parents and children born from IVF, so obviously it’s time for another well-regarded fashion designer to give an interview which will no doubt offend a great many people. This time it’s Giorgio Armani and he has many, many (ridiculous) thoughts. You know what? All of these offensive interviews just make me like Karl Lagerfeld more. Ugh. Some highlights from Armani’s recent interview with The Sunday Times:
Gay men shouldn’t “dress homosexual”: “A homosexual man is a man 100%. He does not need to dress homosexual. When homosexuality is exhibited to the extreme—to say, ‘Ah, you know I’m homosexual’—that has nothing to do with me. A man has to be a man.”
Men shouldn’t be too ripped: “I don’t like muscle boy. Not too much gym! I like somebody healthy, somebody solid, who looks after his body but doesn’t use his muscles too much.”
No breast implants: “A small breast does not have to become big. I prefer to look at a natural woman. A woman should be courageous to become older, not desperate to look younger than her age. With time, a woman’s body is better. As a woman goes to work, has babies, she is strong. She has character. Look at Cate Blanchett.”
I don’t believe women should feel the “need” to get implants, but I also feel like many women do it for themselves, not because some old gay dude told them that big boobs are in or out of style. Perhaps Armani is just stating a general preference and he’s not “judging”. Or whatever. But with the “dress homosexual” comment, it does come across as super-judgy. What does it mean to “dress homosexual” in 2015? Does it look like Aaron Schock’s turquoise belt? Does it look like Neil Patrick Harris in his Hedwig drag? What bugs me is that Armani was on the forefront of the whole metrosexual “look” – getting straight men to really care about their suits, care about their grooming, care about their bodies. Armani wanted every dude to look like Richard Gere in the 1980s. And now he’s saying it’s gone too far because too many men are dressing homosexually. I GIVE UP, ARMANI!
PS… Double-breasted velvet coats look homosexual.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
He looks good for his age..
I do agree with him on the too gay look and men shouldn’t have too much muscles like Mr Universe..
PS: didn’t Lagerfeld say something racist recently???
What’s ‘too gay’? And then what’s ‘just gay enough’? Or ‘not enough gay’?
isn’t THIS GUY: http://i.dlisted.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/giorgioarmanimasculeine2015.jpg dressed and built he opposite of everything he just said?
Yes.
What exactly is the ‘too gay’ look please?
see: the picture Kiddo posted above.
I personally like a LOT of gay in menswear. not too much or it loses it’s punch. too much gay can ruin a good soup…I mean, SUIT.
What is the “too gay look? A guy in a dress?
If we see a great dressed, hadsome guy, my sister and I know his great dressed handsome boyfriend is nearby. If their style is “too gay,” is that why so many straight guys dress badly?
1. Nothing will make me like Karl Lagerfeld anymore. Nada. Go home, Karl and leave Chanel alone. You’ve done enough.
2. WTF is in the water in Milan these days, perhaps some chemical that causes verbal homophobic diarrhea?
There’s push back, in conservative corners on the advancement of gay civil rights, and these kind of statements pander to that consumer.
Exactly. “Don’t hate me because I’m gay! I’m not one of THOSE gays, like a really GAY gay.”
I see your point, but Oh Kiddo – it’s so effin hypocritical given that some of the best talent in the fashion industry is gay.
Your point is worth consideration, but I wonder if it’s more of a generational thing? Older gay men, in many circumstances, were forced to “fit in” so it may have suppressed freedom to explore new attire. Now a day fashion has exploded into whatever works for whomever. I just think he’s older and a bit out of touch.
What he said is not homophobic. Homophobia is defined as “unreasoning fear of or antipathy toward homosexuals.” That’s not happening here. He’s in FASHION commenting on FASHION choices of a group of people. Stop stirring up trouble for this man. He’s lived his entire life surrounded by gay men. I doubt very, very much he’s homophobic.
Not only they make me like Lagerfeld more (something which I didn’t think I ever could), they also make me miss McQueen like crazy.
You know who’s a man 100%? A man who says f!ck gender stereotypes and expectations, whether they pertain to dress style or breast implants.
I have no idea what this silly f*rt is talking about. Gay men (and woman) and everybody else can dress exactly as they choose. women can do what the hell they like with their own boobs, that’s the whole point of equality. Maybe somebody should sit down and have a little chat with him. Alternatively maybe somebody should employ a ball gag until he stfu.
I don’t have a problem with him saying a woman is beautiful without breast implants.
Purely based on my own personal preference I agree with him on the over ripped/muscle look. The whole Mr Universe look repulses me.
I can see what he was getting at the the gay look comment – there was a period (70s,80s, 90s to an extent) where the gay man uniform was tight jeans and a vest (still is with a man of a certain age) but still, people should be able to wear what they want, as long as their not sitting their desk naked.
I don’t even know what dressing “too gay” might mean?
Are we to assume that Giorgio doesn’t fancy clones, muscle boys and drag queens? And because he doesn’t fancy them, gay men should not dress like any of them?
I’m going straight upstairs to find my feminist-lesbian dungarees. I shall wear them for the rest of the day in solidarity will all rainbow dressers. Or something.
Sixer, take a gander at the link I posted above. It’s one of his designs.
I’m going to buy that and wear it. It’s so full of heterosexual machismo. It will satiate my penis envy.
AND sensible shoes and really big pants, which oddly enough I seem to be wearing now. I think I’ll join you with the dungarees as well.
We could put the really big pants on the outside of the dungarees? Then we’d be SUPERHERO lesbian-feminist rainbow-dressing solidarity supporters.
We’d get at least three seasons out of a TV show with that premise, right?
I love the idea of SUPERHERO et al but I told a porky. I don’t actually own dungarees. I have a pair of jeans and a blue teatowel, if I tie that round my neck like a bib will it do? It can also double as a cape. You can be the SLFRDSS, and I’ll be the Baldrick style sidekick. This will involve turnips.
That is a cunning plan! Your reward is a trip to Mrs Miggins’ pie shop!
Such joy! We can call the movement Blackada the fifth (column)…
I’m really quite excited about this. Dungarees. Tea towels. TV shows. Superheros. And now agitprop. I might start hyperventilating.
(We should be saying overalls, right? For our American pals. But dungarees is an exponentially better word for these purposes, I feel. Oh. Do Americans have tea towels? Or are they called something else?)
I don’t see anything that outrageous, here. When I read his comment, I assumed he was referencing kind of a Nathan Lane Birdcage look. He seems to grasp that being gay doesn’t have to mean being feminine. He gets to have a preference.
I also prefer a sleek, fit look on men and not a neck the same width as their head. I should think that if you spend your time dressing people, you’d probably feel the same.
Frankly, I give him kudos for the breast comment. He’s saying your natural look is just fine, that you don’t need to be Kate Upton to look like a woman. When so many people find it hard to accept their natural shape, I think it’s nice that a fashion icon is telling people not to worry so much about it.
I like his comment about women’s bodies getting better as they get older. I very much would like to think that is true – I am proud of what I have been able to do with my body in my life and I don’t want to feel ashamed to show it.
The dressing homosexual comment falls flat though.
I don’t think my body is getting better as I get older. Back fat and cellulite – yeah, that’s fantastic, thanks Mr. Armani! Best part of me right now IS my fake boobs!
The ‘don’t dress homosexual’ comment is a strange paradox coming from a designer who has done fantastic menswear looks for women. But I do appreciate that he has an opinion in this era of celebs being so hyper PC that they don’t say anything interesting or insightful at all.
And btw, the Birdcage movie was preceded by a French film called La Cage aux Folles which I thought was much funnier than the American version.
I liked the turquoise belt myself.
Just yesterday I was getting gas in the Castro and a guy walked by in chaps (and nothing else). Definitely extreme and no doubt he was a man (who “was being a man”). I hadn’t thought about Armani in years, and now I think a lot less of him.
Interesting wardrobe choice. Lol
In the Castro it’s not a particularly novel choice. It’s not really even enough to make you stand out from the crowd. In SF we had a controversy over whether you had to wear pants to a restaurant; a pair of assless chaps is almost business attire.
Omg, RobN you are funny. My vote is yes, have a rear in your pants if I’m sitting on that chair after you.
That isn’t very extreme. Is he going to wear a tux?
Usually I think the argument is BS but I do think there’s something in the translation. I think he was saying that gay men are men they aren’t women so don’t suppose they won’t dress masculinely because they are gay. The American Gigolo look was considered too pretty in the day but I think it represents what he likes–well cut, elegant lines (which super bulky muscles can’t get you) but in traditional menswear. That the flamboyant ‘gay’ way of dressing isn’t what he likes (flashy colors, fabrics, etc) and neither is an overly buff, hulked up figure. And he doesn’t like overly large boobs. These all just seem like personal opinions perhaps in response to his preferences, taste and aesthetic. I think a little too much is being read into here.
I agree. Look at the sentence structure in those quotes. Something was a bit lost in translation and that something seems to be the tone.
He is so right.
It sounds like he was ineptly trying to say that men shouldn’t dress flamboyantly. Meh. Fashion people have opinions about fashion. It doesn’t mean they’re right (or wrong), but it’s kind of his job to have an opinion about how people dress.
And I LIKE the double breasted velvet coat.
People are allowed to have points of view. It doesn’t make them fascists or bigots or anything else.
As a woman, I hate to see other women dressed in an overtly sexy way. I think they look like desperados. That includes too much make-up, too much cleavage, too high heels, too short skirts/shorts, too tight anything, too long hair, false eyelashes, false nails, fake tan. All of it turns me off and makes me a little embarrased for the person displaying herself as an object.
Go ahead, call me a bigot. They’re my preferences. The same way that D&G are entitled to believe that families are formed in certain ways.
People are entitled to their beliefs; pretending there are no differentials makes you a simpleton.
But it is so nice to be able to put a label on someone and put them in a box!
I think an overly sexy look can look bad, but what is wrong with long hair? If it’s all natural, how is that bad?
I love long hair. Wish I still had mine
I could be wrong, but I thought the implication there was FAKE (read: extensions) long hair…like Lohan’s cheap nylon she wears.
Who pretends there aren’t different opinions?
I’m with you on that one. And the same goes for men. Whenever I see a dude (usually with very strong arms) wearing a too tight shirt, I think “desperate” right away.
Aaron Schock’s turquoise belt, white pants and gingham shirt are forever seared in my brain. #neverforget
Not gonna lie, I really see this as an out of touch old dude. Like my grandpa almost, so I can’t even take him seriously. That’s fine dude, nobody’s gonna change your mind but you when you’re this old. But maybe keep your mouth shut when you have huge business. I totally laughed at “not too much gym!” though.
I understand what he’s saying and agree with him. He looks fantastic for 80! And I love his clothes.
He works out too. I couldn’t believe how good he looked in a pap photo last year taken of him in a swimsuit at the beach.
Instead of talking about dressing homosexual, Armani, let’s discuss the aesthetics of your fake tan.
Maybe I’ve read too much Georgette Heyer and Jo Beverly (plus The Scarlet Pimpernel — never stop, Sir Percy!) but I always appreciate when men–gay or straight–wear something with tonnes of personality and flair, even if it makes them look like a fashion victim. Men’s fashion choices only became so rigid as women’s economic and social power grew. Narrowing down men’s ‘acceptable’ clothing decisions became a new way to define “what a man is” in contrast to women (fashion becomes frivolous, therefore men who dress according to fashion are perceived to be feminized).
Yawn. Fashion designer has an opinion on fashion. It’s stupid and out of touch. Next!
I don’t agree with him, Ms Orange Kool Aid doesn’t get to dictate what is manly and what isn’t, what is gay and what is too gay.
Giorgio, actions speak louder than words, you old hypocrit!
Okay, I get what he is saying, he is also dinosaur old, but the best part of this article is this:
“PS… Double-breasted velvet coats look homosexual.”
I believe unfortunately there is a certain “look! I’m gaaayy” way of dressing and styling for both men and women that is rather annoying – and it’s not necessarily dressing flamboyantly for men or short hair for women it’s something harder to put my finger on. I mean Giorgio looks very stylin’ in the above pictures but he isn’t styled in that hey look I’m gay way. Being gay shouldn’t mean you have to lose all your individual fashion sense.
Come again?
If people like loud patterns that’s non of your business.
If people insist on wearing mom jeans, let them.
Keep your homophobia out of our society.
And yet here are posters dismissing his comments bec he’s old- ageism will never die(no pun intended). Richard Gere was a vision in American Gigolo- those clothes were amazing. And how he dressed Jody Foster for several Oscars- gorgeous, clean lines. He has had a stellar career. Given his history of minimal fuss in design, not a stretch to see where he would not enjoy flamboyant/overdone clothing.
I don’t understand the outrage. He correctly stated that a gay man is still a man. He seems to have an issue with gay men who dress too flamboyantly. I love that he said men and women look best when they’re more natural (no implants and excessive muscles). After 20’s/30’s most men have to take steroids/other performance enhancing drugs to achieve that ripped look. Our society is losing touch with what natural looks like. We need more people to say that all this excess is unnecessary.
Uh, actual gay man here.
Let me start by giving Mr Armani the big gay finger- and not in the good way.
A gay man is a man no matter what he wears – a suit or a ‘clone’ outfit or a dress or lycra or a jockstrap or leather or hotpants or if he dresses like a lumberjack or if he’s wearing nothing. Men are men are men.
No gay man has to explain the way they dress to anyone else- not straight men & women, not lesbians, not transgender or intergender or bisexual people – and certainly not other gay men. No gay man has to feel bad or less than or apologetic because they don’t meet some stupid masculinity test when it comes to fabrics or colours or whatever.
Some of us dress “gay” to attract, shock, OTHER GAY MEN. There is a code, a language of identity that can be expressed by clothing, and some gay men choose to communicate “hey, homos, here I am! Come get me!” to other GAY men. We couldn’t give a damn what the rest of y’all think, we’re not interested in you.
There’s also political elements to dressing ‘gay’. Some of us are PROUD to look like gay men.
And sorry, but Armani clothing, hate to break it to ya Mr Armani, is the EPITOME of dressing ‘homosexual’. Your freaking yawn inducing, overpriced shit is synonymous with dressing like a ‘gay’ man.
I personally am a very conservative dresser, very boring – I don’t have a lot of money to spend on clothes so I have to pick items that I can use for smart casual or work and get a lot of use out of. I dress like any other man in the city and despite that I still look very, inescapably gay. I just stand out to everyone, no matter where I am. Hooray! But I am hella attracted to men that look or act or dress ‘gay’- because I am gay! I’m not interested in looking like a straight guy OR pandering to a straight persons opinion about how homosexuals should look- or worried about the opinion of some apologist gay man.
Jonathan,, my dungarees (see above) salute you. Happy dressing!
I like Jonathan.
Go Jonathan!
Sixer, Kiddo and I Choose Me, thanks for your kind words 🙂
Morc- despite popular misconception gay men aren’t automatically more stylish than straight men, for example, but contradictorily, in my experience, gay men have proven to be more stylish, yes. Still plenty of trashbags (I use that term fondly) in the gay community! We DO tend to be a bit better groomed, a little more finicky about our clothes. But, see, I live in Sydney, Australia, which is both the biggest city in Australia and the city in the world with the highest percentage of gay men per capita, so there’s a certain standard/type of appearance here. We’re kind of the New York of Australia. That’s not always a good thing, there’s a very superficial, catty element here. In the suburbs away from the inner city gay men tend to dress more relaxed.
And I find Armani more tacky than trashy.
Wouldn’t you say that Armani, albeit expensive, is too trashy to be gay?
I always liked feminine, androgynus (spelled right?) men. I always liked cross-dressing men, and/or men wearing make-up – I really find these men attractive, very attractive. Unfortunately, in most cases they are gay. Hmpf. 😉
And I know that Armanis opinion is kind of common in large parts of the gay community – the above mentioned gays are considered “a shame for the gay community and the reason why society hates gays”.
For example, I remember that Conchita Wurst got very much hate and harsh critism from members of the community after her winning the ESC. Which is very sad, they should stick together and not fight each other.
It’s good to know that ALL men, not just the heterosexual ones, think they have the right to tell women how to go about their lives.
What an ignorant, short sighted statement. I certainly never make it my business to tell any woman what to do unless it’s something like “hey, take that toilet paper off your shoe”. Or “don’t expect a man to hold the door open for you, because, Feminism”.
Argh, sorry Irene! “Ignorant” & “short sighted” aren’t nice terms to be throwing around like that, please forgive me!
Jonathan, I think Irene was being sarcastic.
That tangelo needs to sit down and eat some Ben & Jerry’s Dolce and Gabana Banana Denial.
I agree with him 100%!!!!
Maybe he was referring to the curious phenomenon on TV and in movies, where typically gay men have to all talk a certain way, walk a certain way, and dress a certain way. The writers base their gay characters on entertainers, not on real-life diversity. Really, except in Hollywood, people aren’t looking for potential mates all the time. No need to advertise their sexual preference in some weird Hollywood way.
I don’t think double breasted velvet coats look “homosexual”, per say; I think they look childish, like something an English boy at a private elementary school would wear.
A gay man also does not need to turn his skin orange, but you do, Signor. Care to explain why?