Giorgio Armani is a name synonymous with luxury. Celebrities have flaunted his fashion on the red carpet for decades. But Armani, who would eventually own a business empire worth billions, grew up without much money. As a child, his mother made all of his clothes. Still, he was the envy of his classmates, as Armani remembered in the 1990 documentary Made In Milan. He looked wealthy even though his family was poor.
Armani died Thursday in Milan, according to his family. He was 91.
Born July 11, 1934, in Piacenza, Italy, Armani was the second of three children. Even as a child, he loved early 20th-century designers, artists and architects. In 1975, he founded his Italian luxury fashion house Armani in Milan. Soon after, the movie American Gigolo helped make him a household name in the United States.
In that 1980 crime drama, Richard Gere plays a high-end sex worker. The film begins as Gere enters a fancy boutique, complete with a uniformed doorman. The camera ogles Gere as he stands in front of a mirror, trying on a relaxed, single-breasted, two-button brown Armani jacket.
At the time, a streamlined silhouette was uncommon in men's fashion. Armani jackets did not use traditional padding and shifted away from standard colors such as blue and black. Armani suits offered a sculptural quality, with more casual silhouettes and softer colors.
Armani's clothing were made with the goal of highlighting the body as an object of art. Design historian John Potvin wrote the 2013 book Giorgio Armani: Empire of the Senses. He says Armani's greatest contribution to the world of fashion was the subtlety of how he revolutionized how we dress. "He made formal wear and sportswear incredibly comfortable and incredibly accessible," Potvin told NPR.
Well, maybe not accessible to everyone. Armani's ready-to-wear men's suits easily cost thousands of dollars. His sleek, austere lines lent themselves to office culture, and women in the corporate world embraced Armani for generations, in part because of an androgynous edge that made him a favorite of some female movie stars.
At the 1990 Golden Globes, Julie Roberts accepted her Best Supporting Actress award for Steel Magnolias wearing an oversized gray suit with a purple tie. It was a subversive, sexy fashion choice well outside of the confines of extravagant, floor-length gowns. Potvin calls the look "iconic," "extremely '90s" and "very masculine."
"And at the same time, she looked unbelievable, as she always does anyway," Potvin said. "We have Armani to thank [for making] formal wear just so much more livable."
Over the years, Armani retained ownership of his privately-held company, which generated $2.4 billion in revenue in 2022 alone. In addition to clothing, the Armani fashion house designs, manufactures, distributes, and retails leather goods, shoes, accessories and fragrances. More affordable versions of his clothes have been sold in malls through Armani Exchange since the 1990s, but Giorgio Armani never lost his style and direction. His influence on the world of fashion feels eternal.
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