Armani's household name was made in this film, and Richard Gere was the perfect clotheshorse for him. Hustler and male escort Julian Kaye (Gere) is a smooth reflection of the glitter and flash of eighties Los Angeles. In this emotional economy, short on more subtle values (sincerity, commitment, friendship, love), Kaye's deft artifice is a highly sought commodity. Everything around him (drugs, relationships, attitude, and fashion) enhances his sleek surface and masks his emptiness. What he appears to be to others, and do to/for others, gives Kaye his power and popularity. When he is framed for murder, his community seemingly conspiring against him, his self-satisfaction crumbles. Redemption comes with love, when neglected political wife Michele (fashion model Lauren Hutton) gives it all up for him. Clothing itself has a narrative arc in American Gigolo, from Gere's Armani fashion show to his prison blues, through his naked self-revelation to his fall-from-grace common-man wardrobe.-Sally Syberg