Michael Ovitz says only one obstacle prevented him from becoming truly close friends with Giorgio Armani , the legendary Italian fashion designer who died at his home in Milan on Thursday: “He didn’t speak English, and I don’t speak Italian, so there always had to be an interpreter between us,” explains Ovitz, the co-founder and former chairman of Creative Artists Agency. “I couldn’t just pick up the phone and call him. But I do feel like I got to know him. He was a great designer and an even greater person.”

As one of the cadre of uber-agents who famously departed William Morris and founded CAA in 1975, Ovitz says there was an informal understanding from day one at the new agency. “We didn’t create a rule, but we told both the men and women in our office that they had to dress a step

See Full Page