Schmucks, Idiots, Giorgio Armani, WWD and Me

WWD today writes that I "took them to task" in my post about their interview with Giorgio Armani. I obviously touched a nerve, but I am not sure why. Just to clarify:

1. I have interviewed Armani several times. (The first when I was on staff at DNR, the men's version of WWD.)

2. I do not now, nor have I ever claimed to speak Italian (although I have been known to speak fluent Euro -- part French, part Italian, part Spanish -- after a few glasses of wine).

3. The point I was trying to make was that if, as a designer label, you court celebrities to help sell clothes, then you shouldn't really criticize other companies for skipping the middle man and simply hiring the celebrities directly.

4. Armani's press officer, Robet Triefus, wrote to me and to WWD on Friday to clarify the comments made in the interview, saying that what Armani had said was that H&M were treating their customers like "idiots" not "schmucks." I posted the letter he sent in full.

Unless I'm missing a trick, the gist of my post is the same, except that had WWD translated "coglioni" as "idiot" and not "schmuck" I would not have been able to use the word "penis" in my blog, for which, of course, I am eternally grateful.