Giorgio Armani, ‘The King Of Fashion,’ Continued To Innovate Until His Death

When Giorgio Armani turned 90 in 2024, he told the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera that he planned to retire within the next 2 to 3 years. An ambitious goal for most older folks, but then again, until his death on Sept. 4, 2025, the designer, who is worth $12.1 billion, according to Forbes, was still leading his namesake brand empire as it celebrated its 50-year anniversary.

Just last week, the brand launched an interactive digital platform, Armani/Archivo, at the Venice Film Festival that showcased content curated from a comprehensive cataloging of the designer’s collections. During the upcoming Milan Fashion Week, Giorgio Armani will open a curated fashion showcase to the public at the Pinacoteca di Brera gallery, a first for the ‘Brera Art Gallery’ and main public gallery known more for its Italian paintings dating as far back as the 13^th century which will feature over 150 archival looks from the brand’s five decades and this summer the brand opened a beach-focused pop up in Shelter Island.

When Giorgio Armani founded his brand at 41, he had already had an impressive career in Italian fashion as a menswear designer at Cerrutti 1881, and as a freelance fashion designer for brands Allegri, Bagutta, Gibò, and Montedoro, among others. His early career included roles in sales and as a window dresser at La Rinascente. He founded his brand Giorgio Armani S.p.A. in Milan with the support of a friend, Sergio Galeotti. His launch collection included women’s clothing, though he was primarily a menswear designer. Not a bad for Italian born in 1934 about an hour out of Milan to humble means—his father was a shipping manager and grandfather worked in theater—but who was gifted with innate sense of style and elegance.

In the U.S., 1980 was the year that made the designer a household name. The seminal film “American Gigolo”, regarded as Richard Gere‘s breakthrough role, was known as much for its racy subject as for its highly stylized production, down to the music, with Blondie’s “Call Me” as the movie’s theme song. With a wardrobe designed by Giorgio Armani, Gere effectively became the poster boy—albeit also an extremely good-looking one—for Mr. Armani’s revolutionary suit. In lightweight fabrics such as linen, the relaxed silhouettes and deconstructed shoulders forever changed men’s fashion, which was typically known for stiff tailoring at the time. His relaxed suits for women came at a time when women were entering the professional workforce in droves and catered to their busy lifestyles that came with expanded roles.

His clothing also became the de facto boardroom and red-carpet uniform for Hollywood’s elite. It still routinely ranks as one of the top five brands worn to awards shows, and this year, for example, Demi Moore and Elle Fanning were both dressed in the brand’s couture line, Armani Privé, for the Oscars and Cannes Film Festival, respectively. Less than a year ago, the designer staged a big fashion event in New York to mark the opening of his new hotel there, ostensibly his last visit to the US.

Mr. Armani was also unique in that, typically, the creative lead of a fashion brand steers clears of the commercial side. In his case, the Italian designer kept control of his business empire, which grew to extend to perfumes, hotels, restaurants, home furnishings, and more. While the brand has had peaks and valleys in its overall popularity and success, in 2023, the brand had roughly $2.65 billion in revenues and operating profits of approximately $2.3 billion, with Mr. Armani listed as the company’s chairman, chief executive officer, and sole shareholder. The company had not announced a brand successor at the time of his passing.