She has played a murderous mum, a witch, a mobster’s wife, a French aristocrat and a steamy chanteuse, but perhaps Michelle Pfeiffer’s most enduring and favourite role – aside from being a mother – is as muse and glamorous clotheshorse for fashion icon Giorgio Armani.
Theirs is a mutually rewarding relationship: he makes her look good and she makes his clothes look sensational. Yet, more than that, they share a close friendship that began more than 20 years when the Italian designer first noticed Michelle’s slink and scornful sass in the 1983 movie, Scarface, when she was only 23, and offered to dress her.
“I didn’t know people in the movie industry did such things,” says Michelle, one of Hollywood’s most reclusive stars. “I remember thinking, ‘Why do I want someone to dress me? I can dress myself. And who is Giorgio Armani?’ I was totally clueless when it came to fashion and have pretty much remained that way. But, thanks to him, it has gone pretty much undetected all these years.”
Although she hasn’t made a movie since 2002, when she gave a chilling portrayal of a manipulative mother and murderer in White Oleander, Michelle Pfeiffer is still regarded as one of the best actresses of her generation. And she remains one of the most beautiful women in America.
All this glamour and haute couture is a far cry from Michelle’s early, decidedly no-frills upbringing.
Michelle remembers thinking, “This is my life and I hate it – what am I going to do?”
Find out what Michelle did to go from supermarket check-out girl to Giorgio Armani’s muse.
Only in the May 2005 issue of The Australian Women’s Weekly.
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