Venice Film Festival: A red carpet pulpit for 'King Giorgio' Armani

For decades, the red carpet of the Venice Film Festival was one of Giorgio Armani's most high-profile catwalks, with the stars of cinema donning his elegant creations for the eyes of the world.

With the death on Thursday, at age 91, of Italy's most famous fashion designer, the prestigious festival on the sandy Lido closes a long chapter, marked by Armani's fascination with cinema and a reverence from Hollywood for the talents of the sartorial master

Festival organisers called Armani -- who is often referred to as "King Giorgio" by the Italian media -- an "Italian genius of fashion and style" with a long history with the annual cinema

"Cinema was Giorgio Armani's first love, a passion that began in childhood and never left him," the festival said in a statement on Thursday.

"This is one of the reasons why Giorgio Armani became a great friend and frequent visitor to the Venice International Film Festival over the years, as well as an important supporter in recent years."

For the eighth year in a row, Armani Beauty is the main sponsor of the 11-day festival, which ends on Saturday with the Golden Lion awarded to one of 21 international films.

With his keen businessman's eye, the man who built a multi-billion dollar fashion empire was the first designer to recognise the potential of cinema to promote his fashions.

It started with Richard Gere in 1980, when Armani designed the relaxed linen wardrobe of the sexy playboy of "American Gigolo" -- a cinematic collaboration that catapulted both actor and designer to the top of their industries.

Many of those films whose stars were dressed by Armani -- both onscreen and off -- came to Venice, including Brian De Palma's "The Untouchables" of 1987 and Martin Scorsese's "Goodfellas" of 1990.

Countless film and television hits over the years cemented Armani's status as the perfect designer for the visual medium, from Don Johnson's pastel jackets with a T-shirt peeking beneath in the 1980s TV series "Miami Vice" to Leonardo DiCaprio's power suits in Scorsese's "The Wolf of Wall Street" from 2013.

Decades of archives

A decades-long friendship between Armani and Scorsese stemmed from "Made in Milan", a short film about the designer as he prepped for a fashion show.

"Like all great designers, Giorgio isn't thinking of just outward appearance on a red carpet but also comfort in everyday life," Scorsese wrote in a 2015 tribute published in Vanity Fair for the 40th anniversary of the fashion house.

Citing the "timeless elegance" of his friend's work, Scorsese said Armani's pieces were "quietly detached from the fads and trivia of the moment."

Just three days before the designer's death, the Armani Group put on a star-studded bash in Venice, with guests including Cate Blanchett.

The event celebrated 50 years of the company and introduced "Armani/Archivio", a digital archive of some of his best looks that will be made accessible to the public.

At the festival's opening ceremony last week, Venice regular Blanchett, the face of Giorgio Armani Beauty, wore an Armani Prive black gown with a dangerously low decolletage accented by chunky black jewels.

Armani "leaves a void that is impossible to fill", Blanchett said.

"Not just in the worlds of fashion, art, cinema, theatre, architecture and design, but in the hearts of millions of people whose lives he influenced."(AFP)