Giorgio Armani: ‘Gay Men Shouldn’t Dress Gay’
Well this is… uncomfortable.
Iconic Italian designer Giorgio Armani, who caters to such A-list celebrity clients as Cate Blanchett, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jessica Chastain, George Clooney, Naomi Watts, and more, recently made some remarkably questionable comments about the way gay men choose to dress themselves.
Speaking to The Sunday Times Magazine (via The Independent), Armani discussed his distaste for men who “exhibit” their homosexuality sartorially (as he sees it, anyway). “A homosexual man is a man 100 percent. He does not need to dress homosexual,” said the designer, 80. “When homosexuality is exhibited to the extreme—to say: ‘Ah, you know I’m homosexual,‘—that has nothing to do with me. A man has to be a man.”
…Alrighty then.
It’s always disconcerting to hear someone express such an overwhelming bias towards a certain group, but it’s even more terrible when the person those opinions are coming from is in a position of public power. The weirdness only grows when you consider that Armani is a prominent member of the fashion community, which is generally considered to be super welcoming to and accepting of others, regardless of their sexual preference.
This isn’t the first time this year that an Italian designer has faced a fallout for his homophobic ideals. Dolce & Gabbana designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana faced a public relations disaster after revealing that they don’t agree with gay people having children. (Both Dolce and Gabbana are, themselves, gay.) Like Armani’s, that, too, was a homophobic remark masked as an opinion—which we’re all entitled to, of course—but it’s these kinds of ‘opinions’ that do nothing but breed ignorance and intolerance.
And besides—who’s to say that one person’s idea of “dressing homosexually” matches another’s? With so many trends (and non-trends, alike) around today, the menswear category has never been so broad. Not to mention the rise of unisex dressing, which is now more popular than ever.
It’s time to stop shaming others for their choices: whether it be how they dress, or who they love. If this is Armani’s twisted idea of a marketing tactic—“Wear my clothes! You won’t look gay!”—we aren’t buying it.
More from Yahoo Style:
Hollywood Calls for a Boycott of Dolce & Gabbana Following Comments About Gay Families and ‘Synthetic Babies”
Madonna Tells Dolce & Gabbana To “Think Before You Speak”
The Dark Underbelly Life Of The Male Modeling World
