By Siaka Momoh

Copyright independent

‘To many who worked for him, he leaves an unfillable void. Some of them spent the better part of their adult lives in close contact with Armani, a workaholic who expected his closest aides to be so too.’

• In Italy, he was one of the country’s richest men with a fortune of more than €12bn.

• He founded the world’s largest private luxury brand.

• Armani understood that fashion was not only about clothes but lifestyle, and changed not only how men and women dressed, but also how they ate, travelled and decorated their homes.

• His breakthrough came in 1980 when he dressed Richard Gere in the film American Gigolo.

• In 1983 Armani opened an office in Los Angeles, the first designer to do so with the specific aim of dressing celebrities

SIAKA MOMOH

(STORY ADAPTED FROM FINANCIAL TIMES)

Giorgio Armani, the visionary Italian designer who died at the age of 91, founded the world’s largest private luxury brand by indulging in minimalism and pioneering the idea that Hollywood could be a branding platform for fashion labels.

For more than perhaps any other designer, il signor Armani understood that fashion was not only about clothes but lifestyle, and changed not only how men and women dressed, but also how they ate, travelled and decorated their homes, reshaping the fashion industry in the process…

“My goal in the beginning was to assert my vision and to dress people,” Armani told the Financial Times in an interview published just last week, “In some ways it’s still the same idea today.” Born in Piacenza, south of Milan, in 1934, Armani was the second of three children. His family moved to Italy’s fashion capital in the 1950s just as he dropped out of medical school and joined the design team at luxury department store La Rinascente as a window dresser…

His breakthrough came in 1980 when he dressed Richard Gere in the film American Gigolo. In 1983 Armani opened an office in Los Angeles, the first designer to do so with the specific aim of dressing celebrities. His suits became the uniform of Hollywood studios, while his beaded evening gowns were ubiquitous on the red carpet thanks to acolytes including Angelica Huston, Jodie Foster and Michelle Pfeiffer…

Fashion historians consider him one of the most influential figures in the past half century. In Italy, where he went on to become one of the country’s richest men with a fortune of more than €12bn, he was a national treasure who transcended the luxury industry. In 2023 he said it was the general public who appreciated him as a person and not the stars that made his efforts worthwhile. “I don’t know how any of us can think any of this is replicable without me,” Armani told the FT that year on the sidelines of a grandiose event he hosted in Venice.

His group now includes brands Emporio Armani, Armani Exchange and the higher-end Giorgio Armani as well as luxury hotels and restaurants across the world and a lucrative beauty and homeware line. With no clear succession plan in place, many fear the empire will end with Armani’s death. But he told the FT in 2023 that although he was “scared to die”, he was working to ensure his legacy and style “footprint” would endure…

In 2016 he set up the Giorgio Armani Foundation, designed not only to fund social projects but also to shield his group from a future takeover or break-up. The foundation will now own a stake, yet to be disclosed, in his fashion empire with the rest going to family members who will be barred from selling their stakes to any third party. Wanting to stay true to his creative identity, even when it became less appealing to younger generations, and being able to call all the shots at the company until the very end are what pushed him to turn down every buyout offer. He could never cope with a boss, he used to joke. While his tastes changed over time and more recent collections featured bright colour palettes and patterns that were a far cry from his more austere flagship designs, he always stuck to his own style, which remained understatedly sophisticated and sober. He said he “would have never adapted to the new [flashier] trends”.

While he enjoyed summer holidays at his home on the remote Sicilian island of Pantelleria and sailing the Mediterranean on his yacht Maìn, his mother’s nickname, he would reply to the many suggestions that he retire and enjoy life, “No, absolutely not.” …

His attention to detail both frustrated and amazed aides and friends. He would inspect venues before every show, changing the position of furniture and the intensity of lighting. One person who has worked for Armani describes an occasion when he told an employee his tie was 1.5cm too long so ruined the balance of his outfit. His iron grip on the company now leaves the question of who will take the group forward unanswered.

To many who worked for him he leaves an unfillable void. Some of them spent the better part of their adult lives in close contact with Armani, a workaholic who expected his closest aides to be so too.

At the 2023 show in Venice — his last on such a grand scale — staff and friends were particularly emotional. Hollywood stars and colleagues from across the fashion industry, including Santo Versace and Moncler’s Remo Ruffini, joined others in a five-minute standing ovation at the end of the show as a teary Armani took his bow and walked around the Venice Arsenale, the city’s ancient shipyard, accompanied by one of his favourite models impeccably dressed in a tuxedo. “I mourn someone I have always considered a friend, never a rival,” his fellow designer Valentino Garavani said on news of Armani’s death on Thursday. “And I can only bow to his immense talent . . . and above all, to his unwavering loyalty to one style: his own.”