The unknown love affair between Armani and the Venice Biennale

When you think of red carpets and film festivals, you think of glamour. Of sparkling evening dresses worn by the most well-known stars of the world. Of style, showmanship and most importantly, beauty. Carpet after carpet, beyond the dress and the jewels, each star has a carefully orchestrated set of beauty products, tuned in perfect symphony to create the most beautiful of accents.

Where the red lip becomes the crescendo, the luminous base serves as a perfect harmony, and the smokey, sultry eye as rhythm and tension. In this symphony, the one that holds the most power, is the one seen the least during the performance – the director. And within beauty and red carpets, that director is none other than Armani Beauty.

Picture this: you’re travelling through Venice ahead of the Biennale, by boat of course, and amidst the rocking water passing you by, you sport a classic boat with a red flag waving in the wind. The flag, emblazoned with Biennale’s logo, accompanies a statement that reads: Armani Beauty, official beauty sponsor. You make your way through the water, you slip into a white, fluffy robe and you hear a knock on your hotel door.

A makeup artist makes their way in, carrying a black suitcase once again embossed with the beauty sponsor logo. After some strokes of Luminous Silk, a dash of Smooth Silk Eye Pencil and of course, a tint of Lip Power lipstick, you’re looking like your best self to walk in front of the cameras. Once again, you slip into your finest dressing gown and make your way down to the water. Later, sailing towards the brightest of the islands, where a big red obelisk marks thee red carpet beneath the blazing Biennale’s logo, Armani’s official sponsorship shines. The carpet walks, the flashes fire, and after watching the much-anticipated debut, you’re sailing back again to your hotel room, where you’re greeted by the most luxurious of skincare: Armani Beauty. After completing your evening skincare routine, you’re drifting onto a dream, you wonder: ‘Why Armani? Why would they want to be the official beauty sponsors of the Biennale?’

The answer to that question comes from another time and place. From the dream of a little boy, in the Italian town of Piacenza, Italy. Over 80 years ago, that little boy dreamed of movies, films and cinema stars. That boy was Giorgio Armani himself. “Like all children, I had countless dreams. Mine in particular were inspired by Hollywood and the movies that I saw at the cinema with my family. I allowed myself to fantasise in those almost sacred moments, and those images opened my mind, giving me the ideas and inspirations that are still a part of me today,” he quotes recalling his childhood and original dreams.

Armani pursued his dream of cinema and movies, even if life had different, fashion-oriented plans for him – leading him to become one of the most influential and powerful designers in the modern world. His first interaction with this industry came from the movie American Gigolo, where he dressed the breathtaking Richard Gere in arguably one of his most influential roles. This first dip into the big screen led to heaps of other movies, like The Untouchables, The Wolf of Wall Street, Stealing Beauty, Heat, The Departed, Goodfellas, The Usual Suspects, The Departed, Elysium, amongst other, to sport Armani’s designs alongside their plots and scriptures.

“I’ve often wondered what my life would have been without film. Surely I would not have become the man and designer that I am today. For me, films were not only a youthful passion that continued into adulthood, but also a constant source of ideas and inspiration, a mine of images upon which to draw on and build my world. Films are a repertoire of visions that have indelibly forged my style, as well as the way I understand both elegance and communication.” says Armani.

Today, for the fifth consecutive year, Armani Beauty provided the official make-up service to the festival’s guests and celebrities destined to walk the red carpet. Since 2018, Armani beauty has provided make-up services for more than 4,000 guests and the brand plans to keep going on strong, enhancing the relationship the brand has with the world of filmmaking that more than clearly comes as a celebration of Giorgio Armani’s life-long love for the cinema.

From a little boy in the Italian countryside to the biggest film festival in the world.