Roberta Armani

>> In efforts to rejuvenate his business, Giorgio Armani has entered into a multimillion-dollar partnership with Lady Gaga. The relationship is being shepherded by Armani's niece Roberta Armani, who heads up VIP relations for the company; she contacted Gaga's stylist Nicola Formichetti last November after seeing the singer perform live at the American Music Awards in Los Angeles, wanting to see if Lady Gaga would consider wearing Armani for the Grammy Awards. Giorgio Armani sketched out three designs for the occasion — all of which Gaga ended up wearing.

It is unusual for Armani to design specifically for one person — brand loyalists like Cate Blanchett and Michelle Pfeiffer typically chose existing outfits from the collections — but, Roberta Armani says, "It wouldn't be possible to give Gaga a look from the collection because she wears pieces of art. It's theatrical." She adds that Lady Gaga has helped the company think younger: "A huge company like Giorgio Armani has the duty to always be alert to trends and what appeals to young people. It helped to see how the world is through Lady Gaga, the way she uses Facebook and Twitter."

Post-Grammys, Gaga reached out to Armani about her Alejandro video — she wanted tight black military-style leather suits for the male dancers; the suits not only showed up in the video, but in the Emporio Armani men's fashion show in June (the "Alejandro" video played on the runway backdrop). Armani has since dressed Lady Gaga for the MTV Video Music Awards, her appearance on American Idol, and for her "Monster Ball" concert tour. He's soon to start working on costumes for her concert in Italy in December. But the two have yet to meet.

Clive Owen made a cameo last night at the Milan opening of Vladimir Restoin-Roitfeld's latest presentation of artist Richard Hambleton's creations. Vladimir, who kept close to his mother, Carine, mingled with a crowd that included Rachel Zoe and her husband Rodger Berman. Clive, meanwhile, caught up with the Armanis, Giorgio and Roberta. After a few months out of the spotlight, Clive's back on the scene with his latest evening out and his recent appearance at the BAFTAs with wife Sarah-Jane Fenton. He was just off filming Trust, David Schwimmer's latest directorial project, and Clive evidently has another few projects that he's deciding between for the future. He said, "I'm not sure what I’m doing next."

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Leonardo Dicaprio and Bar Refaeli joined Martin Scorsese and Mark Ruffalo for dinner last night at NYC's Armani Ristorante. The Shutter Island boys are together ahead of their film's premiere this evening, which comes on the heels of their weekend screening in Berlin. It looks like Bar traveled right alongside Leo, after the pair celebrated Valentine's Day together in Germany. Leo gave us a peek into his life with his recent interviews in Esquire and Parade, and this morning he stopped by Good Morning America to talk about his latest work with Martin, helping Haiti, and settling down — check out the video after the jump.

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The Spring couture shows are currently underway in Paris, which means it's time for star-studded front rows. Anne Hathaway was Giorgio Armani's guest of honor yesterday for his presentation, though she was able to tear herself away from his runway full of red carpet-worthy gowns long enough to exchange loving glances with her boyfriend Adam Shulman. Anne recently found out she's the year's female recipient of Harvard's Hasty Pudding pot, and she's also set to announce the Oscar nominations back in LA on February 2. Elsewhere in Paris, Hilary Swank joined Inglourious Basterds's Melanie Laurent at a collection from Etam designed by the model Natalia Vodianova. This morning brought Karl Lagerfeld's latest collection for Chanel, which went with a "neon baroque" theme. Pregnant Claudia Schiffer was there to join Alexa Chung and the always attention-grabbing Kanye West and Amber Rose.

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Marion Cotillard kicked off Fall 2009 Haute Couture week in Paris yesterday at the Christian Dior show — get her beautiful makeup look here. She skipped out on today's Giorgio Armani Prive presentation, which brought out Megan Fox and longtime fan of the line Cate Blanchett. Megan headed to France from LA just yesterday amid her verbal sparring with Transformers director Michael Bay, who apparently had her audition for the role by washing his Ferrari. Rather than dwell on that, instead Megan can look forward to Jennifer's Body as she joins the ranks of the front row fashion set.

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>> Giorgio Armani has niece Roberta Armani increasingly stepping in for him in the public eye as a brand ambassador and just released the newest set of underwear ads featuring David Beckham this morning, but the brand face we're most interested in is Raquel Zimmermann, whose Fall 2009 ads for Armani — the first of many for her this season — are starting to pop up.  The same team was used for Fall 2009 as for Spring 2009: stylist Katy England with Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott, but Raquel replaces Sasha Pivovarova as the face of the brand.