Giorgio Armani

Giorgio Armani was born on 11 July 1934 in Piacenza to Ugo Armani, an accountant for a transport company, and Maria Raimondi. He grew up with his older brother Sergio and younger sister Rosanna. Living in poverty during World War II, he was severely burned when an unexploded artillery shell he had been playing with detonated, which also killed one of his close friends.

While at secondary school at the Liceo Scientifico Leonardo da Vinci in Milan, Giorgio Armani aspired to have a career in the army, particularly after reading A. J. Cronin's The Citadel. He enrolled in the department of medicine at the University of Milan. In 1953, after attending for three years, he left and joined the army. Due to his medical educational background, he was assigned to the Military Hospital in Verona, where he attended shows at the Arena. He eventually decided to look for a different career path.

1957–1974: early career

In 1957, after serving in the military for two years, Armani became a window dresser and sales clerk at La Rinascente, a department store in Milan. Also in 1957, at the store, he was responsible for showcasing the earliest garments of the innovative Finnish textiles, clothing, and home furnishings company, Marimekko. He became a seller for the menswear department. In that capacity, he gained valuable experience in the marketing aspect of the fashion industry. In the mid-1960s, Armani moved to the Nino Cerruti company, where he designed menswear. His skills were in demand, and for the next decade, while working for Cerruti, Armani also freelanced, contributing designs to as many as ten manufacturers at a time.

In the late 1960s, Armani met Sergio Galeotti, an architectural draftsman, marking the beginning of a personal and professional relationship that lasted for many years. In 1973, Galeotti persuaded him to open a design office in Milan, at 37 Corso Venezia. This led to a period of extensive collaboration, during which Armani worked as a freelance designer for several fashion houses, including Allegri, Bagutta, Hilton, Sicons, Gibò, Montedoro, and Tendresse. The international press was quick to acknowledge Armani's importance following the runway shows at the Sala Bianca in the Pitti Palace in Florence. The experience allowed Armani to develop his style in new ways.

1975–1983: founding Armani

Armani felt that he was ready to devote his energy to his own label; on 24 July 1975, he and Galeotti founded Giorgio Armani S.p.A. in Milan. In October 1975, he presented his first collection of men's ready-to-wear for Spring and Summer of 1976 under his own name. He produced a women's line for the same season. In 1990, Armani supported the MoMA exhibition Pier Paolo Pasolini: The Eyes of a Poet, which showcased a retrospective of Pasolini's cinematic work. Armani's contribution included the donation of a copy of the Pasolini film Accattone (1961), reflecting his engagement with cultural initiatives beyond fashion.

Armani established an innovative relationship with the fashion industry, characterized by the 1978 agreement with Gruppo Finanzario Tessile (GFT), which made it possible to produce luxury ready-to-wear in a manufacturing environment under the attentive supervision of the company's designer. In 1979, after founding the Giorgio Armani Corporation, Armani began producing for the United States and introduced the Main line for men and women. The label became one of the leading names in international fashion with the introduction of several new product lines, including G. A. Le Collezioni, Giorgio Armani Underwear and Swimwear, and Giorgio Armani Accessories.

In the early 1980s, the company signed an important agreement with L'Oréal to create perfumes and cosmetics Armani Beauty and introduced the Armani Junior, Armani Jeans, and Emporio Armani lines, followed in 1982 by the introduction of Emporio Underwear, Swimwear, and Accessories. A new store was opened in Milan for the Emporio line, followed by the first Giorgio Armani boutique. However, Armani was concerned for the end user, which later culminated in the development of a more youthful product with the same level of stylistic quality as his high-end line, but at a more accessible price. Armani felt that he had to make use of new and unconventional advertising methods.

Armani felt that a relationship with the film industry was essential, both for promotional reasons and for creative stimulus. In 1980, he was involved in the costume-making of the film American Gigolo, specifically for actor Richard Gere who played the main character Julian Kaye. The production of his work through film helped to publicize Armani's name, with a scene involving Gere yanking open a drawer of Armani shirts, perfectly folded with the labels exposed, before creating four entirely Armani outfits in the film. This connection to the film industry projected his name and brand to a much broader audience. Armani designed costumes for more than one hundred films, one of the most important of which was The Untouchables (1987).

In 1983, the designer modified his agreement with GFT. They began to produce both the Mani line for the United States and his high-end ready-to-wear line, rechristened Borgonuovo 21, after the address of the company headquarters. During the late 1980s, despite Galeotti's death in 1985, Armani continued to expand commercial horizons and licensing agreements. He opened Armani Japan and introduced a line of eyeglasses, socks, a gift collection and a new "basic" men's and women's line for America known as A/X Armani Exchange in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In 2000, Armani saw an increase of investment activity towards his brand, including stock sales and the acquisition of new manufacturing capacity intended to increase Armani's control over the quality and distribution of his products.

In 1991, Armani introduced AX Armani Exchange, a line focused on casual, everyday clothing such as T-shirts, designed for younger consumers and the American mass market. In 1996, his long-time friend, the singer Eric Clapton composed songs for Armani's fashion shows and has since dressed in Armani. Later that year, Clapton opened two Emporio Armani stores in New York City. In 1998, Armani hosted a party for Clapton's Crossroads guitar auction.

The Oxford Art Journal made note in their article, "Hermes in Asia: Haute Couture, High Art and the Marketplace", that Armani took influences from other cultures as inspiration for some of his works and cited his Japanese designs as examples. Armani also prepared to break into the Chinese market by opening up his first store in that country in 1998. A small shop in Beijing was followed by a flagship store in Shanghai in 2004 and plans for 40 by 2011. In 2000, Armani SpA was introducing new lines of cosmetics and home furnishings and expanding its line of accessories.

Family

Armani had no children. His immediate family included his late elder brother Sergio, his younger sister Rosanna, and three younger relatives: nieces Silvana and Roberta Armani, and nephew Andrea Camerana. He credited Rosanna—once a fashion model and long regarded as his muse—with introducing him to the fashion industry. At the time of his death, Armani's sister, nieces, and nephew were all closely involved in his business empire.

Relationships

Armani was an intensely private man, but said in an interview with Vanity Fair that he had relationships with both men and women. He had a longstanding personal relationship with his business partner, the architect, fashion designer and businessman Sergio Galeotti, who died of complications from AIDS in 1985. Armani credited Galeotti with empowering him to pursue the business. Reflecting in 2015, Armani said of Galeotti, "When I travel, I bring his photograph. There is something that remains. His spirit lingers. For sure. He lives on. I see Sergio everywhere, and I am sure he sees me. And I have hope that whatever I have done, he knows about it." Armani described his inability to prevent Galeotti's death as the greatest failure of his career. According to Armani's family, he spent much of his time on his yacht and loved sailing.

Despite being open about his sexuality, Armani sometimes expressed personal views on the public expression of homosexuality. In 2015, in an interview with The Sunday Times, he said, "A homosexual man is 100% a man. He doesn't need to dress like a homosexual."