Rickey recalls Jodie Foster winning her best actress Oscar in 1992 for The Silence of The Lambs, two years after Armani had begun his reign as the de facto Hollywood red carpet designer, with the Oscars even jokingly being called the “Armani Awards”.
She says Armani’s partner Sergio Galeotti had died of Aids in 1985, and Foster, as a gay woman (albeit at that time under the radar), prominently wearing an Aids ribbon “was a powerful statement”.
“As a young gay fashion journalist at that time, I loved seeing Jodie Foster in a trouser suit that had chic and sparkle but was still boyish and elegant, the hallmarks of Armani style.”