Giorgio Armani, Titan Of The Fashion World, Has Died

 

At the age of 91, fashion colossus, businessman, entrepreneur, and creative legend, Giorgio Armani, has died. Armani is a name so synonymous with fashion that anyone can recognise it. Even those who know little about apparel, when asked to name a brand, probably would chose one of a few. YSL, Louis Vuitton, Prada, Dior, all are in the running. But Armani stands above all as one of the most recognisable names in fashion.

Giorgio Armani, An Early Biography

Armani was born in Italy in 1934. Growing up with a humble beginning, the young Giorgio was smart, hard-working, and ambitious. He originally studied as a doctor at the University of Milan. But he was unsatisfied with his career choice, and left university early to join the Italian Army. He searched for something more suited to his temperament. Armani eventually found a job at a menswear department in a clothing store. He began as a window dresser, setting up innovative and stunning displays in the department store. This would also be the foundation of his own work. Learning how to not just make clothes but how to present them. He had found his calling.

The Young Designer

Armani started to design his own work, and interned at numerous Milan-based fashion houses. The first major name was Cerruti.Here he cut his teeth and worked throughout the 1960s on menswear. In 1973 he met Sergio Galeotti, an architect, who became his close friend. Galeotti persuaded him to open his own design office. This wasn’t the start of the brand that would bear his name however. It was a freelance office, where he would sell designs to up to 10 brands at once. Soon, it was the young designer being mentioned on catwalks, not the brand he represented. This was a sign that his own fashion house was just around the corner.

The House Of Armani

In 1975, Armani founded the brand that would bear his name. Interestingly, his first line in 1976 was actually ready to wear. Where other big names in fashion had started with custom fits, Armani wanted these pieces available in a department store. It proved a bold but wise strategy. People flocked to these displays and soon the designs were everywhere. He was an almost overnight success. In the 80s, he partnered with L’Oreal to make perfume. And then he branched out into more than just high end ready to wear. It was then that we got arguably the most famous elements of Armani, such as Emporio Armani and Armani Jeans. These were the more casual and less expensive items of the range and widened the brand’s appeal.

Giorgio Armani In Hollywood

Armani knew where the future was for fashion, and he knew it was in film. When he got started in a department store, films were still largely in black and white. Now, they were rich and colourful and higher definition than ever. In the 1980s, he collaborated on numerous films. The most notable early title of his was American Gigolo where he dressed Richard Gere,. This rocketed him to a new height among the American film elite. He soon dressed Robert de Nero, Kevin Costner, Andy Garcia, and Sean Connery in Brian de Palma’s The Untouchables.

The Biggest Name In Film For Clothing

He was soon the man to go to if you wanted the sharp and dynamic look of the 80s. That is, as opposed to the big garish elements of that decade. If you want peak Armani, look no further than the Sci-Fi masterpiece Gattaca. Ethan Hawke wore a big double-breasted suit, but not a boxy one, with a slender waist and arms. And all finished with big sweeping peaked lapels. And Uma Thurman in a business like suit from a new century, as much CEO as she was Ship’s captain. It was dreamy Sci-Fi Futurism at its peak. See both above images for this beauty.

The 90s, A New Horizon For Giorgio Armani

Although his business partner Galeotti died rather suddenly in 1985, the brand continued to grow. Nothing could deter Giorgio Armani from his dream of making the most beautiful clothing he could make. He had already expanded into Emporio a few years prior, but in 1991 he launched Armani Exchange. This was his most affordable brand yet, concentrated on a younger audience than even Emporio. It was very affordable for nearly anyone that was interested in investing in a beautiful wardrobe.

Ana Carolina Reston And The Campaign For Healthier Fashion

There is a temptation in fashion critics to think that designers are all about making things for skinny girls. Giorgio Armani had much more substance to him than that. The designer, like the entire fashion world, was horrified by the death of Ana Carolina Reston. Reston was a Brazilian model suffering from anorexia nervosa. She died from complications from the disease in 2006 at the age of 21. She had a BMI of just 14.1.

In response to this, Armani was the very first fashion house to ban low BMI models from catwalks. Armani himself declared only those with a BMI of 18 or greater from walking in his clothes. That is the low end of normal, but not dangerous for most people. No fashion house had ever restricted their models in this way. But Armani felt it his duty to not harm the women under his care. And that it was unethical to do this just to make his designs more desirable.

Healthy Fashion For Us, Sustainable Fashion For The Planet

Another criticism among those who are sceptical of the fashion world is the waste the industry produces. But after a campaign for healthier fashion, Armani embarked on one for sustainable fashion. Livia Giuggioli Firth began a campaign for promoting recycled materials in high end fashion in 2011. Armani was the first to adopt the practise. Many designs might turn their nose up at such a suggestion. The idea is that their clothes are too good for using old water bottles in their fabrics. Not Giorgio. He believed that quality comes from the fit and the detail and hard work put into making the items.

Giorgio Armani, The Man Himself

Little is really known about the man himself, for such a public figure. By all accounts, he was a shy man, and was intensely private. He rarely gave interviews and never divulged details about his life. He was an avid sailing fan and spent much of his spare time on the water. Armani was also a keen music lover. He would pick out and mix compilations for his own catwalk shows and to be played at special events. His relationships were similarly shrouded in mystery. He once mentioned being romantically involved with both men and women,. And he may have had a relationship with his first business partner Sergio Galeotti. He claimed to carry a photo of him everywhere that he travelled. Armani called Galeotti’s death from complications from AIDS the greatest regret of his life, blaming himself for not doing more.

A Legacy Unmatched

There are few men more interesting, talented, hard-working, or moral in the fashion world than Giorgio Armani. He was a genius, a true visionary that transformed clothing. He turned away from the big and bold brashness of 70s and 80s style. Instead, he pursued a close cut, flattering, dynamic, minimalist style. One that exuded quality, natural beauty, and a celebration of the human form. His work had a balance and good taste unmatched in the fashion world. He shall sorely be missed, and we shall never see another man like Giorgio Armani in our lifetime.