As mentioned earlier in the Tom Cruise post, Giorgio Armani was honoured last night with the Outstanding Achievement Award at the Fashion Awards in London and, in addition to Tom, he had his two favourites with him. Cate Blanchett is the first global beauty ambassador for Armani and she was there representing the brand and celebrating her relationship with the designer but for nearly 30 years now, Mr Armani has been dressing Julia Roberts. There’s even an article about in at British Vogue today. Armani requested that Julia be with him at the event. As her stylist, Elizabeth Stewart, said, “Giorgio Armani and Julia Roberts are always a perfect match”.
This may have been the beginning – back in 1990 at the Golden Globe Awards. Remember this look and that smile?
She won for Steel Magnolias. It was January 20, 1990. She was 22 years old. Pretty Woman came out two months later and you know what happened after that. But watch her in this acceptance speech. There’s a lot of Vivian in this speech. She’s playing the part of the fresh ingénue – beautifully – and she’s adorable, like ADORABLE. They were goners, all of them, watching her up there, with that hair and that face and that mouth and that southern accent and that performance of innocence. They had no chance. We had no chance. But you’ll note, as nervous as she says she is, she doesn’t stumble when she’s speaking, not once. Every word is clearly enunciated, every name is listed, comes to her off the top of her head; all the cute asides, like when she shouts her mama, are delivered at exactly the right time. And, of course, at the end, when she lowers her voice just enough to make it intimate, and sweetly acknowledges her “beautiful blue-eyed, green-eyed friend who gives me everything”, everybody wanted to be Kiefer Sutherland in that moment.
I’m telling you, for those of you too young to remember, the way she blew up, a Hollywood star if there ever was a star, there was no escaping it. If there ever was a Julia Roberts documentary, I would watch it every day.
