Menswear Style Podcast
The Menswear Style Podcast is a leading men’s fashion and menswear podcast exploring men’s style, clothing, grooming, lifestyle and the business behind some of the world’s most exciting fashion brands. Hosted by Peter Brooker, each episode features conversations with menswear designers, fashion entrepreneurs, innovative brand founders and industry experts from across the global fashion and apparel industry. Discover the stories behind established and emerging clothing brands, from the first idea and challenges of launching a fashion start-up to building a successful international business. Guests share their experiences and insights across fashion design, sustainability, manufacturing, marketing, branding, eCommerce, retail, social media and business growth. Whether you’re interested in men’s fashion and style, discovering new menswear brands, starting your own clothing label, or learning how successful fashion businesses are built, the Menswear Style Podcast takes you behind the scenes of the modern menswear industry. New conversations with the people shaping the future of menswear, men’s style and fashion.
Menswear Style Podcast
Giorgio Armani’s Impact on the Fashion Industry
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In this episode of the Menswear Style Podcast, we sit down with Rebecca Ryder-Caddy, a fashion academic and menswear specialist from Coventry University, to reflect on the life, work and extraordinary legacy of Giorgio Armani following the designer’s death.
With around 15 years of experience teaching fashion at Coventry University and a professional background in menswear design, Rebecca offers an expert perspective on the designer who transformed the way men could dress — making tailoring softer, more relaxed and significantly more accessible.
We explore what made Armani so influential, from his signature unstructured silhouettes and understated Italian elegance to the way he softened traditional ideas of masculinity. Rebecca explains how Armani’s approach stood apart from the aggressive, highly stylised fashion of the 1980s, offering men a new way to be smart without appearing rigid or uncomfortable.
His influence extended far beyond the runway. We discuss Armani’s hugely important relationship with cinema, including his work on Richard Gere’s wardrobe in American Gigolo and his costume design for more than 200 films. The conversation looks at how Armani understood the difference between designing clothes for real life and designing clothes that could communicate character, texture and status on screen.
We also revisit some of Armani’s most iconic fashion moments, including Grace Jones’ striking Nightclubbing album cover and the designer’s ability to use exaggerated shoulders and tailoring to create an image of power, strength and androgyny.
Rebecca explains why Armani’s legacy goes beyond individual garments. His decision to retain control of the company he founded in 1975 allowed him to build an extraordinary fashion empire spanning multiple labels, hospitality, restaurants, publishing, exhibitions and other creative ventures — all under the Armani umbrella.
The conversation also examines how Armani influenced the wider fashion industry, from the rise of relaxed tailoring to the growing idea that a designer could become a creative force across multiple industries and cultural spaces.
And with Armani having remained personally involved in the company right up until his death, we discuss what happens next. Who will take control of the business? Can the house retain its identity without its founder? And could the Armani brand eventually face the same challenge as other designer-led houses when the person at its centre is no longer there?
Finally, we look at how Armani may be remembered decades from now — not only for his clothes, but for his charitable work, his support for humanitarian causes and his belief that great fashion could be lived in, reused and appreciated over generations.
A thoughtful conversation about one of the defining designers of modern menswear, and why Giorgio Armani’s influence is likely to remain visible long after his final collection.
Hello, welcome back to another episode of the Men's Wear Style Podcast. I'm your host, Pete Brooker. How are we doing? Well, today we are gonna do something of a a memoriam, I guess, on the passing of Giorgio Armani. I am going to speak to Rebecca Ryder Caddy. She is a university expert over in Coventry, specialising in fashion, of course. We're gonna have a nice sit-down impromptu chat. We hope you enjoy this. All the show notes will be over at menswearstyle.co.uk. And don't forget to leave us a lovely, honest five-star review if you get the time. Okay, here is Rebecca Ryder Caddy. Alright, it's my great pleasure to introduce Rebecca Ryder Caddy to the show. She is a Coventry uni fashion expert. How are we doing today, Rebecca?
SPEAKER_00I'm really well, thank you. The sun's out, so that will do.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, no, it's good. Good sign. Maybe the last of the summer wine, perhaps. We'll see. Um, Rebecca, well, perhaps before we get into the subject of Armani, and obviously we're going to touch upon his passing and his legacy. You can tell us a little bit about yourself.
SPEAKER_00Okay. Yeah, yeah. It's just um just got really loud in this room. I'm so sorry. Um okay, so I work currently at Corinthian University. I've been here for about 15 years, and I am part of the School of Arts and Creative Industries, um, which was the School of Art and Design. We've grown, we've got uh other courses which include performance and production in with us now. Um, and I've been an academic in the fashion team for about 15 years now. Um, before then, and a little bit alongside, I worked as a uh designer, mostly in menswear, um, and that's what I trained in initially.
SPEAKER_02Right. And this was in Coventry, so you you grew up and and studied there also?
SPEAKER_00No, not at all. I grew up in North Staffs in near Stoke and um did my degree at Derby, University of Derby, and then worked worked at Derby actually after I graduated and then moved over to Coventry later.
SPEAKER_02Right. Okay, all right, interesting. So just trying to get the geography of very movement. Yeah, definitely, definitely the centre of the UK there. I'm getting that right. Absolutely. Well, Rebecca, I mean the news of Giorgio Marni passing in the last week, it's it's interesting. We were talking just off mic about how it seems like such a seismic shake within the fashion industry. Lots of celebrities coming out and paying tribute, lots of headlines and column inches. But you were just telling me also that some people didn't realise he was still alive, which sounds a little bit harsh to say, but I I'm kind of with you on that. Maybe you can just tap into that and drill down on that.
SPEAKER_00I'm not sure if it's a bit of Mandela effect or if it is just that the brand has been so prevalent in all sort of all ranges of the market, everything from high street upwards to to luxury and and you know couture level bespoke, and everything in between. And I think because uh the Omani brands have been so visible, it's almost like he's ageless, and and I think people have lost that there was a person there sometimes.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. And I wonder just I mean, I guess outside of our eco-sphere, if you did just see Giorgio walking down the street, how many people would recognize him? Because he he never dressed overly ostentatious, you know, he was always just being in pretty much the same clothes all the time, just black, black wear. And I don't feel like his face was he was never bigger than the brand itself, which is probably a testament to him and his legacy.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I I think it was navy rather than black, I think that was his thing. But you're absolutely right. I think he had um he he always appeared at the end of catwalk shows. I don't think he shied away from the camera as such, but and he did do plenty of interviews, lots of charitable things that they didn't hide from, and that the brands themselves were very good at promoting all of the things happening behind the scenes. But I I think you're right. I think him as an individual and as a personality was quite um mysterious almost, and that's a word that I've read quite a lot over the last couple of days about him. How people didn't know a huge amount about him beyond his his close circle. So he did manage separate, I think.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and he was always really hands-on with the shows, wasn't he? With the the collections, the catwalks, you know. You'd often hear stories about how he would just be in the background and then come in if he didn't feel like somebody's hair was quite right, or he would have a certain dress for a certain model that he knew would work with some models and not for others. Um, so I don't know, is that him just being super controlling, like being a control think, or just he knows that the brand will work with him being present and being there, and that's got a better chance for success with him being there.
SPEAKER_00I think that I think it's a bit of both of those things, and I think that's really interesting what you said about him having control over sort of all aspects. It they're one of a well, the the the Armani brands, the house that it includes all of the sub brands of Armani is a very, very rare entity in that it's the only one that doesn't have um international shareholders. It was still owned by him. So after he founded it as a first brand in 1975 and it grew from there, he retained control all the way up until this week, which is pretty phenomenal. So I think what you've just highlighted about him being omnipresent at shows and not wanting to relinquish control, but not necessarily through being um a tyrant, more just it's his vision, and he's managed to protect that all the way through. So I think it is it's really interesting that that's so visible.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I think that's the word I was groping for, the visionary element of him. He's and it's interesting, I mean, he must have had so many offers to buy him out as well, or to like come in and have other investors, but for him to stay at the top and stay in control for that long, I wonder if that also just speaks to his passion for it as well. Because at some point, I mean you hear like the likes of like Tom Ford selling out and you know, just selling the brand on and thinking, well, I've done as much as I can with this now and I'll move on to other ideas and other ventures. And he just always wanted to be involved with fashion. I mean, like even from the early days of him leaving his medical profession, that he was there, and he just thought I'm I'm I'm gonna do something else, I'm gonna go window dress, and then I'm gonna start my own brand. And so I just feel like it's it's in some people that they're if they're really, really, truly fat passionate about something, they can't let it go, no matter what the price tag.
SPEAKER_00I think you're absolutely right, and I think the examples that you've said where we see um designers leave their eponymous label and go off and do other things, what he did instead was bring those other things into those brands. So they have their own magazine, they have hotels, they had restaurant collaborations, they had exhibitions, um, they had a theatre that they collaborated with um architects with. So, and obviously, all of them, aside from all of those experiential things, there's then also the vast product range. So I think when he wanted to try something new, he did it as part of that umbrella and kept everything within the portfolio.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, no, that's interesting. Yeah, it's uh so what made Giorgio Armani's design so successful, do you think? Like, what was it about his designs, especially that promoted him into the stratosphere?
SPEAKER_00I think you'd get an you'd get a different answer to that, depending on who you asked, because of how they sort of came to him in the brand. So, from my perspective, it's very much that 1980s Italian soft tailoring draped silhouette, everything's slightly oversized, all of the the buttons and the um the style lines are all slightly dropped and more relaxed. And I was I was writing about this earlier, and I was saying about how at the time when we were looking at these uptight pinstriped yuppie aesthetics, he came out with this hands-in-pockets, relaxed way of being smart. And I think from my perspective, that was standout, and then how much that that that ill sorry that infiltrated popular culture I think was phenomenal. Him doing the wardrobe for American Gigolo, of course, made it super mainstream and and sexy and desirable to be smart, but not uptight. So I think that influence was huge. Um I think you probably get a different answer if you ask someone who is perhaps younger millennial or younger still, and they might reference red carpet, women's wear, and all of those sorts of things. But what's true across all of them, and what I think made made him stand out and makes him iconic, is that his menswear was about softening softening traditional male silhouettes, and his women's wear was about sharpening traditional women's silhouettes. So it was about blurring those gender traditions and and perhaps opening up those different more opportunities for how we might want to appear, which is quite surprising when you think about these quite linear silhouettes or almost uniform type garments, but actually it was quite groundbreaking in its way.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Well, I mean, American Gigolo, I've still yet to see American Gigolo, even though I love Richard Gere. It's just a film that never lands on TV. It it hasn't been on any streaming platforms for free, like for the last five years that I can see anyway. And I'm just wondering now, there'll be a huge uptick in people just wanting to download and buy that. Um shamefully, yeah. I mean, I've I've yet to see it, but I'm also kind of reticent to buy it because I just feel like it's one of those films that will just come on Amazon the second I buy it, I'm like, oh, there it is for free. Thanks for that.
SPEAKER_00I think you're absolutely right. I think we'll start seeing it everywhere. But I'm in the same boat as you, I've seen lots of clips from it, but I've never sat and watched the full film.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, no, I've I've got to sit down and and and pay attention, as especially as he's my mum's favourite actor.
SPEAKER_00Oh, really?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, Richard Gibbs.
SPEAKER_00I'm really excited to see though, if if this if this does happen when we see this this suddenly, this takeover, and perhaps some of the other films that Armani dressed for, if we start to see this takeover, what will the influence be on the new watchers, on the new viewers, and what will they take from it? And will we see that back in the highest street or more or higher? It could be really interesting.
SPEAKER_02So, I mean, uh he also I mean he made about he made clothes, I should say, for over about 200 films. I mean, 200 plus. And I mean, he didn't just do kind of the contemporary, relaxed, fluid lines clothing of the day that he, you know, he became famous for. He also did like period clothes as well, like for the untouchables. So he knew like the history of clothes and where clothes came from in terms of the the thickness and the the tactile nature of clothes on film, which is also not something that Len that every designer has. You know, they don't always have the eye for what can look good on film, they might have an eye on what can look good on people, but then that crossing that line and making himself like a cinematic success as well. Also, I thought is he's he's up there with quite rare air, I would say.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I agree. I think um he's he's a rare, or he was, I should say, a rare entity. He was a humble polymath, you know, someone who who perhaps didn't scream that he knew everything, but obviously knew knew a huge amount to be able to apply it in that huge range of spaces that we've talked about.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. So uh when you think of his outfits, were there some real key moments for him in terms of what his most famous outfits were?
SPEAKER_00I think one that's always referenced is Annie Hall on Diane Keaton from 1978. And I'm gonna be honest, I'm not a fan, but I think it is reflective of its time, and I think he was probably quite brave at his time. I think the one that really stands out to me and probably will to a lot of people is um Grace Jones's cover for nightclubbing, the album. And I think a lot of people can picture straight away that album cover with the statuesque Grace Jones in the middle, the cigarette in mouth, and then this super power suit, super shoulders, and it's such an iconic graphic image, and that's his, that's his vision, that's his dressing, his styling that's done that. So I think that one stands out to me.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, no, that's interesting. Grace Jones probably one of the only females of the time that didn't need shoulder pads. I mean, she was so well built. I mean, like the shoulders on that girl alone, and you know, the traps and the biceps. I mean, you've anyway, just thinking, it's like if if you really had to make someone look more androgynous and you know and power suited, yeah, Grace Jones is just probably doesn't need that much padding. That's all I think.
SPEAKER_00No, she I mean she was physically sculptural, wasn't she, at the time? And then also the idea of adding these power shoulders to a suit was about metaphoric power, wasn't it, as well? And again, she wasn't lacking, she was so um so strong and so powerful at that moment. So yeah, I think it's a bit of a it's an unusual choice, but it maybe it just that's why it's got such a lasting impact, perhaps.
SPEAKER_02Interesting. Um so how how would you say that he changed the fashion industry going forward? Once he burst onto the scene, what was what were the ramifications of him and his like relaxed versions of his suits? How did that affect the industry?
SPEAKER_00I think it was huge, really. I think it's quite difficult to to pinpoint because it's like gone it because the career spans such a long period, it's quite tricky to pinpoint the moment that he made a difference. But I I think for me there's two uh sort of elements that really do stand out. One is that in the 1990s we saw brands like Versace and similar really embracing this fantasy escapism, bold sequins, harlequin patterns, and all of this sort of brave, um fantastic, character-based catwalk. And his was absolutely not that. So the the anti-fashion approach, this idea of almost ungendered uniforms countering this hag feminine catwalk that we would see, I think that really did spark a shift that we that really impacted the broader fashion industry. So that's really exciting. And then the other thing is the element that we said before about this sort of polymath, this idea that they that one brand, one man in this case, could encompass so many different market areas and different market levels as well. And I think we see more of that now with these um, I suppose in a very different way. Virgil Abloh almost was tapping into that, this this idea that one person could influence so many things. And actually now, Pharrell Williams really is is that that person that I can think of at the moment who is that who is embodying all those different areas. So I think that influence has been tremendous, and I think because perhaps because of him being so humble, as we said before, I'm not even sure those people would identify that influence from him, but it I think it's there.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, because I I've seen a few interviews with him like in the last week, obviously, because it's it's been all over my newsfeed. But I haven't seen him speak English in any interviews. Did he ever learn how to speak English?
SPEAKER_00And I'm not sure myself. It's interesting because I read an article not long ago and and and he it was sorry, it was recorded not long ago, um, the interview with him, and it's in London, but it's all in Italian.
SPEAKER_02It does seem strange, doesn't it? For such a global brand and a you know I mean, obviously, like do what you want. I can't speak Italian, so what am I to say? But it's it is kind of strange in this day and age that someone of that stature has just stuck to his own language and never bothered to be speaking English.
SPEAKER_00But I think it's unusual, but I also think good for him.
SPEAKER_02Oh, yeah, no, look, it's better, like it sounds better for a start. You know, anything that comes out of his mouth, I'm like, oh yeah, that sounds right. He sounds like he knows what he's talking about, he's Italian, you know, he's well dressed, he's uh elegant. Yeah. Um interesting. Um, well, I mean, now since he's passed, what what do you think is gonna happen next for the brand? I mean, he was, you know, like we were talking about, he was the amiga for the brand. He was just here, there, and everywhere for it. Is it gonna get passed down? Is it uh is there some next of kin? Do you know do you have any insight to that?
SPEAKER_00Um there's no immediate familial air, so that he had no children to pass to, so it's whether or not there's extended family that's that there's uh already an arrangement in place. Um I think this is very much an unknown. And I think because it's because it's such an unusual case where it was one person rather than a huge board of people or or multiple shareholders, I think this is a really unusual case that we're looking at. And I think this is something that will come out over it, might take months to see what emerges. I think it would be tragic if the house was split up, and I think that that would be a real shame if different entities um adopted different sections of the brands. Um hopefully it's something that can be kept together and continued. But I mean, in some cases we've seen where when and Lagerfeld quite fancied this himself, didn't he? Where he died, the brands went with him, and that was it. And it lived as long as he lived. So it would be interesting to see if that sort of approach um is taken, but who knows?
SPEAKER_02I can't imagine so did Lagerfeld actually want that. Sounds like one of the most narcissistic things to do. Like, all right, if I if the brand die, if I die, the brand dies, and I'm gonna put 2,000 people out of work. That's good.
SPEAKER_00Narcissist, yeah, but classic Lagerfeld also, yeah. I think it could go either way.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it it's it's not uncharacteristic, is it? I guess. But there must have been a I'm just thinking there must have been like a procession plan for I mean, he's he was in his 90s. It wasn't like he, you know, like Versace got shot on the doorstep. I mean, that was you know, s no one's gonna have an idea what to do when Versace dies right then. But someone in their 90s, I imagine there must have been some kind of plan handover in the wings.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I would be very surprised if there wasn't. So I think it's just a case of seeing what emerges, but there must have been something worked on and established. I mean it might be that we just see this rollover and this announcement and business as usual. But I wouldn't be surprised if we see something quite um dramatic, but but really um rich and loyal in the funeral and in the you know, in those celebrations, and that that might lead on to announcements after that.
SPEAKER_02Right, yeah, no, interesting. God, that funeral is gonna be star studded, isn't it? I would just imagine.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02I might figure out where that is. Go to see if I can get some autographs, get some DVDs signed.
SPEAKER_00Anyway, so I think it will be uh quite a sight. I think that's certainly something, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Oh definitely. I mean, like, so just uh to finish off, I guess, what do you think his legacy will be in the fashion industry? Like, how will he be looked back on in say five years, ten years, maybe twenty years? What do you think people will think of Armani and perceive him as?
SPEAKER_00Well, what I would hope is that what we said at the beginning of the chat isn't something that will prevail, that people don't really know him because they only know the products and the brand. I think he had an awful lot to give, and I think he was very generous from what I can gather. And actually, it's some he's someone that I didn't know a huge amount about until digging this week, and really realizing how much charitable work he'd done and how much he'd tried to support communities and um, you know, people struggling with different medical conditions, but also when he was a real advocate for AIDS charities, obviously after losing his partner, but also supporting refugees during the um Afghanistan crisis. So he did a huge amount. And I I would like to think those sorts of things will be the things he's remembered for. I also think his love of his muses rewearing garments, like Kate Blanchett rewearing the custom privé gown. I think the fact that he wanted people to rewear things means we won't see the last of these garments for a long, long time. I think we'll see a resurgence of vintage and Almani. And I don't know, fingers crossed we might see a Metgala theme and maybe a real celebration in that sense of his work.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that's a good shout. Well, we'll have to keep our eyes open, but I'm sure we'll hear about it. Listen, Rebecca, thank you so much for taking time out today and uh jumping on. Yeah, it was lovely talking to you, and um hopefully we'll meet up soon. And and until next time. Oh, where can people find you, by the way?
SPEAKER_00You can find us on Instagram, cu underscore fashion underscore UK. That's our course's Instagram page. Um, and I'm I can barely leave it alone, so I'm on there a lot. Oh great. Um, I'm very much glued to um Coventry University, so any of their socials should be able to find things.
SPEAKER_02Wonderful, and we'll leave links in the show notes so people can get hold of you if they've got questions. I want to pick your brain.
SPEAKER_00Will it?
SPEAKER_02Thank you, Rebecca. See you soon.
SPEAKER_01You've been listening to the Menswear Style podcast. Be sure to head over to menswearstyle.co.uk for more menswear content and email info at mensweestyle.co.uk if you would like to be a future guest on the show. Finally, please help support the show by leaving a review on iTunes or wherever you're listening to this podcast. Until next time.
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