Giorgio Armani, known for one of the world’s leading fashion houses, has died at 91. With his refined sensibility in tailoring and minimalism he was respected all over the world. Armani passed peacefully at home surrounded by his family, according to a statement from his fashion label. Even until the end he was hard at work, designing for collections and planning upcoming projects that featured his name.
Armani had just missed Milan Fashion Week, for the first time, while recovering from an undisclosed illness. There were tentative plans for Armani to party and celebrate the 50th anniversary of his Giorgio Armani label during the upcoming Milan fashion week, a celebratory moment that now has new significance following his death.
From Unstructured Jackets, to a Global Empire
Armani pitched his label in 1975 after selling a car with his partner Sergio Galeotti, to make good on their shared dream. What started with the unstructured jackets and earthy color palettes grew into a design dialect that was seen as revolutionary across workwear and red carpet apparel. By pairing a jacket with a t-shirt, he introduced relaxed tailoring to a privileged elite, while conversely the women’s power suit from the same period introduced a sharp structured contrast to the corporate 1980s. Convenience and elegance became his fashion vocabulary that would soon follow, finding a receptive audience from business leaders, celebrities, and heads of state.
Armani never designed to shock. Rather, he designed to last. His reliance on practicality and taste redefined luxury, while demonstrating minimalism could be potent. At the time of his passing, the Armani brand had grown to add more than just clothing – it included accessories, hotels, books, chocolates, and furniture, and was thought to be worth over $10 billion. As was common in his career, he was one of the lone representatives in the fashion industry that did not have outside investors or partners. He was always the boss.
Hollywood, Legacy, and the Global Catwalk
As noted above, a large part of Armani’s debut on the American scene was his foray into film. The 1980 film American Gigolo starred Richard Gere dressed in Armani suits and launched his designs to a worldwide market. In his lifetime, Armani received credits in 200+ movies and in 2003 had his own place on the “Walk of Style” on Rodeo Drive. He became prominent on the awards show circuit, with a host of celebrities including Julia Roberts, Sean Penn, Anne Hathaway, and the Beckhams wearing his designs.
Armani was never one to be loud. You could step into his residences and work spaces, and they echoed the same ethos as his designs. Trimmed-down, thoughtfully thought-through, a few shapes, and with a minimal amount of distractions. Even his escapes, from Sicily to the Côte d’Azur, echoed the same aesthetic.
Even with all of his success and wealth, he remained closely tied with his family and inner circle. He had no children, but was in close touch with his nieces and nephew. Roberta Armani helped keep an inner circle with celebrities by serving as a proxy to often meet celebrities at events, and overseeing personal and professional relationships with celebrities. She was instrumental in the 2006 wedding of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, where Armani outfitted both the bride and groom.
His creative legacy is partly carried on by Leo Dell’Orco and niece Silvana Armani, who had already been running the menswear and womenswear product lines at Giorgio Armani, Emporio Armani, and Armani Exchange.
The Last Chapter of a Unique Life
Armani was born in Piacenza in 1934, and intended to study to become a doctor. A chance job in window dressing in Milan changed his course. The career that followed would transform Italian fashion. Not only did he bridge the notion of ready-to-wear into an export-able industry globally, but he also gave voice to Italian design with an authority that would define the era known as “moda Milanese”.
While Armani generally avoided being part of the party crowd, he nevertheless had as great an influence on glamour as anyone. He had retrospectives of his work at the Guggenheim in New York City and he opened a family owned museum called Armani/Silos in Milan. Just last month, he introduced the digital Archivio Armani, an expansive overview of five decades in fashion.
Armani built a brand that is meant to endure and was not one to chase trends. “I am a lover of things that age well… I like things that do not date, they are living examples of the best,” he stated. In this vein, he also created a foundation to perpetuate the business and kept it from going into sell-off after his death, ensuring his vision would endure.
He was a generous philanthropist supporting many charities, primarily those focused on children and HIV/AIDs awareness, and served as a U.N. goodwill ambassador for refugees since 2002.
Armani is survived by his sister Rosanna, her son Andrea Camerana, and his other creative nieces Roberta and Silvana. He also leaves behind more than 9,000 new employees across 600 stores and seven industrial sites around the world, many of whom saw him not only as a boss, but as the heart of the family at Armani.
