(Credits: Far Out / Chris Hakkens / GianAngelo Pistoia)
In the 1980s, people no longer wanted stocky, shoddy, old-timey tropes – they wanted something real.
Across most art forms, including music, culture was calling for authenticity in the shape of effortlessness and elegance. Dated aesthetics, that once felt fluid, now appeared rigid and the need to move away from them prompted a desire for power and control within design. Sleekness was not a byword for meekness, and as the 1980s drew straight lines into the sky, it needed someone able to take the new power structures and make them chic: welcome to the world, Giorgio Armani.
In the music world, and across Hollywood, Armani’s power suits were all about one thing – looking the part without losing that inexplicable allure. Suits were no longer signs and symbols of corporate drizzle and pretence but quiet luxury. They were the ideal accompaniment that gave off an aura of cool, collected, as well as resilience in the face of chaotic consumer culture.
Even the most extravagant of musicians hung up their maximalist stage wear for the charmingly gracious look at this turning point, and its understated power message even caught the attention of several female stars who also wanted in on its endearing ambiguity. Even now, we see trends across music focused on the strong, tailored suit that shapes the shoulders with a statement that says everything about individualism without giving away too much at all.
And most of it comes from these essential moments that made it all possible. Even Eric Clapton, someone with an intense grasp on past tropes and traditions like blues, ditched his casual shirts and vests in the ‘80s for the Italian way, embracing the suits and shocking fans with his new image.
Clapton was one of the biggest names in rock music during the 1970s. His decision to embrace the new styles of the decade was a huge one. It offered him a new perspective as he ditched the debauchery of the previous decade and welcomed the sharpness of a 1980s suit. It was an edge his peers hadn’t quite caught on to yet.
Funnily enough, people didn’t know what to make of it at the time. Clapton loyalists preferred his more casual approach, while others said the fashion shake-up was long overdue. Either way, it got people talking, which, in fashion, is about as good as it can ever get. All news is good news, as they say. And this was a case when this surely rang true.
Clapton also developed a camaraderie and a kinship with Armani around this time. And it eventually led to another cultural exchange in the form of a Matisse art piece, gifted to Armani by Clapton and becoming one of the designer’s all-time favourite items that he owned. Speaking with The Times in 2024, Armani called it an item he “can’t live without” and said he took it everywhere he went.
He said: “A drawing of a woman by Matisse that was given to me by Eric Clapton. And a portrait of me by my nephew, Andrea’s daughter. Works that make me think just how close artists and children are in spirit. And then the photos of loved ones that I keep on my bedside table, which I always take along with me when I travel.”
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