MILAN – Giorgio Armani, one of the most influential and globally known Italian fashion figures of the late 20th century and a pioneer of the celebrity-fashion juggernaut, has died in Milan. He was born in Piacenza on July 11, 1934.
“In this company, we have always felt like part of a family,” his employees and his family stated on Thursday. “Today, with deep emotion, we feel the void left by the one who founded and nurtured this family with vision, passion, and dedication. But it is precisely in his spirit that we, the employees and the family members who have always worked alongside Mr. Armani, commit to protecting what he built and to carrying his company forward in his memory, with respect, responsibility, and love.”
The funeral chamber will be set up from Saturday, to Sunday, September 7th, and will be open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., in Milan, at Via Bergognone 59, inside the Armani/Teatro. In accordance with Mr. Armani’s explicit wishes, the funeral will be held privately.
The designer, who held the role of chairman, chief executive officer and creative designer, was gearing up to mark his namesake company’s 50th anniversary with a fashion show and party in September.
On June 20, ahead of his menswear Giorgio Armani and Emporio Armani spring 2026 shows, the company issued a brief statement announcing that the designer was not going to take his final bow at either event and that he was “currently recovering at home” without providing additional details, except that in his place, Leo Dell’Orco, head of menswear design, would take the final bow at the shows.
Armani, whose languid tailoring was viewed as revolutionary in the ’70s and ’80s, also built one of the most admired privately held business empires in the industry – one of the few remaining – spanning everything from T-shirts to evening gowns, candles to hotels and residences, perfumes to skin care—a behemoth group that closed 2023 with net revenues of 2.44 billion euros. At the end of 2023, net cash and financial investments amounted to a whopping 1.03 billion euros.
While staying true to his own vision and strategy throughout his life, he also took bold decisions to ensure the long-term success of his company. After building a diversified portfolio of brands, in 2017 the designer unveiled a new brand strategy for the Milan-based group, revealing his decision to cease the Armani Collezioni and Armani Jeans brands and use only the Giorgio Armani, Emporio Armani and A|X Armani Exchange monikers, effective with the spring 2018 season, adapting to the increasingly changing and competitive market. He launched his couture line, Armani Privé, in 2005, generally shown in Paris.
The year 2016 marked the first time the designer — who turned 90 on July 11 2024 — revealed details about the future of his company, confirming he had established the long-rumored Giorgio Armani Foundation which, while aiming to fund social projects, also ensured that his $3 billion fashion group will live on.
“I decided to create the Giorgio Armani Foundation in order to implement projects of public and social interest,” said Armani at the time. “The foundation will also safeguard the governance assets of the Armani Group and ensure that these assets are kept stable over time, in respect of and consistent with some principles that are particularly important to me and that have always inspired my activities as a designer and an entrepreneur.
“These founding principles are based upon: autonomy and independence, an ethical approach to management with integrity and honesty, attention to innovation and excellence, an absolute priority to the continuous development of the Armani brand sustained by appropriate investments, prudent and balanced financial management, limited recourse to debt and a careful approach to acquisitions,” he added.
While vocal over the years about his aversion to sell, take on a business partner or publicly list the company, rumors about Armani contemplating forming a foundation emerged in 2012. The foundation reflected a key priority for Armani — independence, which he sought to maintain over the years, especially since the year 2000 when rumors about a possible sale to LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton or then-Gucci Group and L’Oreal swirled around the fashion house.
Since he burst onto the scene in 1975, Armani single mindedly and sure-handedly championed a modern wardrobe based on an unstuffy and uncontrived aesthetic that earned him a wide and loyal customer base, from the corporate world through to Hollywood A-listers and artists including Sophia Loren, Robert De Niro, Cate Blanchett, Tom Cruise, Glenn Close, George Clooney, Tina Turner and Jodie Foster, to name a few.
Armani rocketed to international fame in 1980 by dressing Richard Gere for the title role in “American Gigolo” and he went on to become one of the first go-to designers for stars attending the Oscars.
The energetic and overachieving designer, and hands-on manager of his company, built his name into one with a value that ranks among Coca-Cola and Microsoft in Interbrand’s annual listings. “Only I know what I want and my message has to be consistent from beginning to end,” he told WWD in 2005. Yet Armani spurned the overtures of deep-pocketed investors that clamored for his company during the luxury sector’s acquisition spree in the late ’90s. He preferred to be his own boss and learned to be a shrewd businessman, especially after the 1985 death of his companion and business partner Sergio Galeotti.
“It came as a surprise to me that Giorgio was such a strong businessman in addition to being a talented designer,” said Nino Cerruti, in a 2005 interview celebrating Armani’s 30th anniversary. Forever clad in jeans and a fitted blue T-shirt to show off his taut, gym-toned physique, Armani worked for Cerruti in the early stages of his career, researching fabrics and trends and designing ties and shirts. Once he set out on his own, Armani expanded his company with the tenacity and meticulousness that characterized his career from day one.
Giorgio Armani Parfums and Cosmetics, under license to L’Oréal, ranks as one of the biggest designer beauty franchises in the world. The French beauty giant since 1988 has developed Armani’s fragrances, skin care and makeup in close collaboration with the Italian designer and in March 2018, it and the designer agreed to renew their beauty license until 2050.
Meticulous, frugal and involved in all aspects of the business, Armani put his stamp of approval on everything from skirt lengths and the flowers strewn around at gala dinners to the colors of the curtains in the offices. Whenever he made an appearance on a photo set or at an event, you could hear his nervous staff murmuring “Sta arrivando,” referring to Armani’s imminent arrival. And the air instantly filled with tension.
A workaholic, Armani would occasionally indulge in la dolce vita: sailing on his Maìn yacht, entertaining at his holiday home on the Mediterranean island of Pantelleria, dining with family at Nobu inside his Milan Via Manzoni Emporio Armani megastore, or spending a quiet night at home watching one of his favorite films, such as Alfred Hitchcock’s “Notorious.” He launched his home and interior design line Casa in 2000, and counted beautiful houses in Antigua; St. Moritz; Tuscany’ beach resort Forte dei Marmi, St. Tropez and Broni, near his hometown of Piacenza.
He always worked tirelessly and passionately—admitting in his later years that he had sacrificed his own personal life for the company—and was only once forced to publicly explain he was recovering from an illness. This was in 2009, when he said he had suffered a case of hepatitis.
Just as his fellow fashion greats Yves Saint Laurent, Valentino, Cristobal Balenciaga, Coco Chanel and Christian Dior, Armani struck a new fashion chord when he launched his signature label. In fact, the Maestro, as he was often called, paved the way for Italian ready-to-wear and the Made in Italy brands when he showed his first men’s wear collection in 1974. His women’s wear collection, introduced in 1975, quickly became known for easy shapes and masculine cuts with feminine qualities. Since uptight styles and ornate detailing weren’t up his alley, Armani pursued a less-is-more template of deconstructed suits, fashioned in fluid fabrics such as viscose and wool crepes.
While he sometimes dared shots of strong color like orange and fuchsia, the word “greige” was devised to describe his color palette of muted shades of grays, taupes and beiges. His fashions came at a time when women were climbing the rungs of the corporate ladder and needed to dress accordingly. But instead of overwrought banker’s pinstripes, Armani did it his way, delivering formality in a softer and more feminine manner. He said he wanted women “to wear jackets like men without losing anything of their feminine allure.”
In more recent years, fleeting trends and other fashion antics sometimes sidetracked Armani, especially on the runway, where aviator hats or tricky pants — from bloomers to loose, low-crotch styles — won him barbs from critics. When he tried to blaze new trails, the designer felt haunted by the damned-if-you-don’t, damned-if-you-do syndrome. Once, in the early ’90s, he showed pouf silhouettes that raised eyebrows. “I loved them, but people said, ‘Well, it’s pretty, but it’s not Armani,’” he said at the time. “It’s difficult to convince these people that, even if it’s not Armani, it must be done.”
But when Armani had something to say, he didn’t hold back. Self-assured and temperamental, he never refrained from slamming his colleagues, who in his eyes generated more dash than cash. He often took the gloves off with the press, developing a love-hate relationship. On the one hand, he used the media to broadcast his new projects or vent his frustrations with the industry and designers that he accused of turning fashion into a circus. On the other, he criticized the press for dedicating too many pages to unwearable designs.
“There was always that desire to shock by showing a bare behind — a cheap trick that will only make people speak badly about fashion. I’m sure it will make a lot of magazine covers, but where is the fashion in it?” he once asked. Yet, while Armani took pride in making clothes that sold and left nudity and vulgarity to others, he was nevertheless one of the most recognizable faces in the industry. “I’m only just now getting used to being called king, but if someone wants to call me an emperor, that’s fine by me,” he joked in 2004. In general, he thoroughly enjoyed the attention when he mingled with his customers and fans, to the point that, when he opened the Armani Privé lounge in Milan, he was known to swing by for drinks and chat up patrons.
Armani’s mother Maria played a great role in his life and influenced his sense of fashion to the point that his two yachts bore her nicknames, Mariu and Main. She died in 2001. “She was never a particularly gushy or emotional person; she was quite reserved. She just said, ‘Bello’ when she saw the first collections,” Armani said of his mother. His father, papà Ugo, a shipping manager who worked hard to support his family, died in the early ’60s.
In 1950, Armani moved to Milan, a place he remembers thinking of as a big, scary city, to study medicine, but he threw in the towel after two years to become an assistant buyer for La Rinascente, Milan’s top department store, where he started creating eye-catching store windows. His first hands-on fashion design experience came between 1964 and 1970, when he landed a job at Hitman, Nino Cerruti’s men’s clothing line. In 1972, Armani and Galeotti opened a studio on Corso Venezia. To furnish the two modest rooms, they used the money they made by selling a car.
After designing his first collection in 1974, Armani and Galeotti founded Giorgio Armani S.p.A in 1975, forging a formidable team and creating their own label of men and women’s ready-to-wear.
While Armani suffered emotionally from Galeotti’s premature death, his business acumen and focus hardly faltered as the company gained momentum in the ’80s thanks in large part to the lucrative licenses he signed with the now-defunct storied Italian manufacturer Gruppo Finanziario Tessile (GFT).
This new undertaking, which soon evolved into an inspirational new business paradigm for other firms, launched Armani Le Collezioni and Emporio Armani. Armani was also among the first to understand the importance of licensing details in such key categories as his booming beauty and fragrance division, and forged a formidable partnership with L’Oréal.
He unveiled his first Giorgio Armani women’s fragrance in 1982 and today boasts a dizzying 40-plus scents between men and women for the various lines. He also has a bestselling color cosmetics and skincare line. “I’m very involved in every activity of my business, including the fragrance and cosmetics projects. I love the challenge of creating [something] new. It is never that easy, but always rewarding in the end,” was Armani’s mantra when creating a new product.
That creed also applied to his agreement with Emaar Properties to develop luxurious Armani Hotels and Resorts around the globe, a venture formed in 2005. The first opened in 2010, occupying eight floors of the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. The sumptuous 160-room hotel boasts eight restaurants, a spa and three retail outlets.
In 2011, an Armani Hotel opened in Milan, leaving a further, permanent mark on the city that houses his headquarters. “I like the idea of being remembered not only for my clothes, and I like to bring an element of luxury that adds prestige to the city,” said the designer upon the opening. “I love the Milanese and their sincere and direct approach. We hired 200 employees to work at the hotel. This is what I would like to happen going forward, for young people to find a job.” The Milan hotel is opposite the city’s prestigious Via Montenapoleone shopping street, and near the La Scala Theater and is located in the 1937 building that also houses Armani’s Via Manzoni flagship. The latest Armani hotel being built is in Diriyah, a 300-year-old site located a 15-minute drive from Riyadh, in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
In 1996, the designer raised a big Emporio Armani sign over a hangar at Linate– a genius stroke of branding in the pre-social media age with hundreds of millions of passenger eyeballs locking on it — and still doing so — as they taxi into, and out of, Linate. In September 2018, Armani decided to hold his coed Emporio show in that hanger, ending it with a performance by Robbie Williams for a crowd that numbered 2,300, including members of the public who won tickets to the event.
In 2006, Armani launched his One Night Only extravaganza, often showing his couture Privé collections and traveling through London in 2006; Tokyo in 2007; Beijing in 2012; Rome and New York in 2013; Paris in 2014; Dubai in 2021 and in Venice in 2023.
In October last year, the designer flew to New York to celebrate the opening of his company’s new building on Madison Avenue, entirely redesigned to include residential units, an Armani/Ristorante and the new Giorgio Armani and Armani/Casa boutiques. Coinciding with the unveiling, Armani decided to parade his namesake brand’s spring 2025 collection in New York and not in Milan.
In 2015, marking his company’s 40th anniversary, he unveiled his Armani Silos exhibition space—walking tirelessly up and down the four levels of the 48,600-square-foot building, in a restored granary of the Nestlé company and constructed in 1950. Armani, whose Tadao Ando-designed Theater stands on the opposite side of the street, conceived and oversaw the renovation project himself. The building is modeled after a basilica layout, an open space four floors high with two levels of naves overlooking it on either side. The ceilings are painted black in contrast to the gray cement floors. In addition to his own designs, Silos presented over the years exhibitions of photos by the likes of Larry Fink and Sarah Moon. He also launched the Filmaking Workshop at Silos, offered free of charge, which will allow participants to produce a short film, partnering with the likes of Luca Guadagnino.
Armani’s achievements earned him a string of high-profile awards that started with the Neiman Marcus fashion award in 1979 and included two of Italy’s highest honors — the Commendatore dell’Ordine al Merito della Repubblica and Grand’Ufficiale dell’Ordine al Merito della Repubblica. Others on the long list include the CFDA’s Best International Designer and Lifetime Achievement Award for men’s wear and for art and fashion, while, in 2006, he was awarded an honorary degree from London’s Central Saint Martin’s College and one in industrial design from the Politecnico of Milan. In 2008, French President Nicholas Sarkozy gave Armani the Legion d’Honneur. In 2019 WWD bestowed him the John B. Fairchild Honor award.
Armani also served as Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations High Commission for Refugees and in 2003, he was honored on the Rodeo Drive Walk of Style.
In 2014, Armani’s nephew Andrea Camerana, a counselor and former licensing director at his uncle’s fashion house, left his operations role, but remained on the board. Camerana is the son of the designer’s sister Rosanna, who also works in the company. He was often mentioned as a possible successor to Armani as chairman of the group. Roberta Armani, who is the daughter of the designer’s late brother, Sergio, is actively involved in the company, in charge of the group’s relations with high-profile celebrities and often acting as Armani’s deputy on social occasions around the world as the face of the company. Her sister Silvana is part of the design team.