Armani tells Beijing students he is 'part of the game'

At nearly 78, Armani speaks relaxed and casually before arts and design academy students in Beijing, saying he feels completely 'in the game'

Iconic fashion designer Giorgio Armani says that making clothes has nothing to do with money. 'One becomes a fashion designer out of passion for the trade,' he told hundreds of students at the Academy of Arts and Design at Beijing's Tsinghua University. 'If you make money, great, but otherwise it is not so important.
'You need to have fun - otherwise you would be better off becoming a dentist'.
Armani himself, as a young man, famously gave up his studies in medicine to carve out what at the time was an entirely new career path. Making clothes was his passion, but he was a fish out of water when it came to running a business.
'For me it was an incredibly tough time, but one which I now remember fondly,' he said. 'The fact that I hadn't been indoctrinated endowed me with a certain naturalness in dealing with people, which in some cases worked out'.
Sitting at the lectern in Beijing, Armani is relaxed before a group of students more accustomed to receiving instructions than to raising hands and asking questions.
The event was moderated by Angelica Cheung, director of Vogue China. Armani, who turns 78 in July, has no plans to leave the scene, and admits at times to being 'a bit puzzled' by what he sees in the fashion world, but he still feels like he's 'part of the game, and who knows for how long'. His advice to young designers is to 'take into account not only gorgeous models but also and especially normal women,' and to 'look at internal beauty while trying to capture the mind'. Armani said that today 'many styles exist alongside each other, and so there is room for both sexy and managerial styles.
Of course, everything has been done by now, and for those only at the beginning in these days it is difficult to create something original. 'However, sometimes very little is required to change the way one makes a dress - a change in proportion, fabric, or a detail - you don't always need to bring in drastic changes. 'There is much to be done, but without letting oneself be taken for a ride by trends. 'Sometimes people need very little. In the euphoria of glamour someone jumps out and does something incredibly simple, and even the press acknowledges him'.
To the young aspiring Chinese designers, two of whom have won a six-month scholarship to study with Armani, he said they should 'find the right balance between' their own identity and the demands of an industrial partner. Rules are useful to give structure to work, but then 'there is the need to bring into it one's own character'. Those wanting to follow the dream 'must begin with wings, and then slowly, gradually reduce the wings and get one's feet on the ground. 'Today 80% of our work, more than my designs or that of those working alongside me, consists of eliminating'.
Fashion design is hard work in the way that Giorgio Armani perceives it. 'I am someone who thinks of the present as well as my own future and that of the company. Everyone enjoys having fun, but to relax and hang out one must have the time - and I don't even have the language to do so. I would not have the slightest idea of how to speak to people interested only in having a good time.
I spend my time with those who work hard, with their feet firmly on the ground'.
http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/44115.aspx