The Armani archive will be working on the Armani series

So, there was a reason why the Armani Group – usually reluctant to clarify, appease or defuse situations – felt it necessary on 2 July to deny any involvement in Andrea Iervolino’s biopic project “Giorgio Armani: The King of Fashion”. And the reason became clear a few hours ago, when Variety broke the news that a series is set to go into production about the fashion designer and entrepreneur who passed away last September, written and directed by Ferzan Ozpetek and produced by LuxVide – founded by Ettore Bernabei, which is now controlled by Freemantle – but is still chaired by the eldest daughter of Rai’s legendary director-general from its golden age, Matilde (Luca left a couple of years ago, whilst Giovanni has remained).

The news that the project is soon to get under way – confirmed by Matilde herself, who is currently on holiday in Punta Ala – has taken LuxVide staff by surprise, including the head of the costume department, Monica Celeste, who did not expect such rapid progress on a project that had been under discussion for months but had, until now, remained merely a possibility. As is clear, in a production such as this, the issue of costumes is extremely significant, first and foremost for a historical reason: Armani’s international fame – like that of Richard Gere, who paired suits and ties whilst dancing in his iconic underpants to the tune of ‘The love I saw in you was just a mirage’ – was cemented in 1980 by a film, Paul Schrader’s American Gigolo, the first in a series of over two hundred films which, in a stroke of genius never before attempted, were dressed not in period costumes – as everyone from Coco Chanel to Christian Dior had done – but in contemporary catwalk garments, with a few exceptions, including The Untouchables*.

The costume designer tasked with working on a series about Armani would therefore be dealing with a protagonist who has reshaped the history of fashion (including) in cinema; for this reason, the production is relying heavily on the support of the designer’s vast archive, which has, incidentally, been significantly expanded in recent years to cater for numerous exhibitions in Italy (the Silos, the Pinacoteca di Brera) and abroad. As for the choice of costume designer – even though LuxVide have told "Il Foglio" that there isn’t even a cast yet, let alone anyone to dress – it is clear that archival research alone will not suffice. Massimo Cantini Parrini, a two-time Oscar nominee, knows this all too well; since last March, he has been working on the series about Gucci, based on the book by Maurizio Gucci’s second daughter, Allegra, and directed by Gabriele Muccino (the fashion industry is only now beginning to recover from the crisis, having changed its strategy and sales policies, as demonstrated by the half-yearly results of LVMH and Kering and the excellent results of Prada and Brunello Cucinelli, but nothing works on a pop culture level quite like series about handbag dynasties).

Whilst it is not yet clear whether the series on Armani will cover his entire life story – spanning over ninety years – or just the decades that marked his rise to prominence, namely from the 1970s to the present day, it still covers half a century, involving at least four significant shifts in style. In short, a costume designer is indispensable, so much so that in the great Roman tailor’s workshops – still the finest in the world – predictions have been circulating for hours, with just one name on everyone’s mind. Ozpetek will in fact be co-producer of the project through his company Faros Film, and will have carte blanche over the choice of collaborators. After years of professional collaboration with Alessandro Lai, he has for some time now entrusted the costumes for his films to Stefano Ciammitti, a highly versatile member of the latest generation of Piero Tosi’s pupils: he designed the costumes for Matteo Garrone’s "Io Capitano", Gennaro Nunziante’s "Buen Camino" and, of course, "Diamanti".