Introduction to Giorgio Armani
Giorgio Armani, who passed away at the age of 91, was a revolutionary designer who changed the way people dress. He was the first designer since Coco Chanel to bring about a permanent change in fashion. Armani’s creations enabled increasing social fluidity in the second half of the 20th century, and he will be mainly remembered for reinventing the suit for both men and women.
Early Life and Career
Armani was born on July 11, 1934, in Piacenza, northern Italy. His family’s comfortable lifestyle was destroyed by the war, and his earliest memory was of being hungry and eating the hardest of foods. Armani played on the streets with unexploded artillery shells until one suddenly went off, burning him heavily and killing a close friend. This experience taught him that "life is not always glamorous." As a young man, Armani drifted, starting a degree in medicine in 1956 but dropping out after three years to join the army. He quickly found the military exhausting and got a job as a window dresser at La Rinascente, a department store in Milan, where he quickly moved up the ranks.
The Rise of Armani
Armani learned what fabrics customers liked and went to textile mills to buy them, becoming an expert in cloth construction and using his knowledge to perfect tailoring. He soon worked for Nino Cerruti, an influential haute couture designer, and was asked to restructure the company’s approach within months. The middle class of the 1960s couldn’t afford haute couture, but they wanted a stylish, distinctive look of their own. Armani provided an answer with his specialist knowledge of fabrics, creating a men’s fashion line with clean, precise cuts that could be made on a large scale. His distinctive Italian style influenced the way people dressed, and in 1966, he met Sergio Galeotti, a young apprentice architect who soon gave up his own career to work alongside his lover.
Armani’s Impact on Fashion
Armani’s vision was projected by Hollywood’s power, and his clothing was featured in films like American Gigolo. He dressed stars on the red carpet and designed costumes for dozens of film and television programs. Armani became the best-selling European designer in the United States within a decade, and Milan became a serious commercial and creative force in world fashion, second only to Paris. He expanded his brand, starting Armani Jeans and Emporio Armani, and added fragrances, glasses, sportswear, cosmetics, and accessories to his portfolio. Armani’s goal was to create a "total look" that people could strive for, and he succeeded in building a global business that maintained control of its finances and creativity.
Personal Life and Legacy
In 1985, Sergio Galeotti died of an AIDS-related illness at the age of 40. Armani, a intensely private man, retreated and thought about retirement but ultimately decided not to "give up all hopes of Sergios." He paid tribute to his long-term personal and business partner, saying, "He helped me to believe in my own work and my energy." Without a family to distract him, Armani devoted his life to expanding his empire, and by 2000, the Guggenheim Museum in New York organized an exhibition of his work. Armani was recognized for his strong influence on social change in the past century and his brave assertion that "design could be art."
Later Life and Career
As Armani entered his tenth decade, he continued to present new collections on the runways of Paris and Milan. In March 2025, he said that his Milan show aimed to "pour oil on the troubled waters of global politics." Personally, Armani was trim and businesslike, and the New York Magazine described him as "notoriously disciplined" and "a self-controller and self-mediator who can turn out to be coolness." He made lengths in his swimming pool every morning, which was 50 meters long but only one meter wide, containing just enough water to make rounds easier. This design reflected his determined approach to life and business, which was minimalist, precise, and developed for one purpose.
Conclusion
Throughout his career, Armani’s styles remained in lockstep with the changing times. His acute feeling for social direction came from his early experiences in the workshop of a Milanese department store, where customers played a significant role, and a good designer made sure to adapt to their changing needs. Armani devoted himself to this task for 65 years, collecting a fortune estimated by Forbes to be $13 billion (£10 billion). He once said, "I’m never satisfied. As someone who is dissatisfied and obsessed forever in their search for perfection, I never give up until I have achieved the desired results."
