Fashion designer Giorgio Armani Death on 91

Milan – Giorgio Armani, the Italian designer who turned the concept of modest elegance into a fashion empire of millions of dollars, died, confirmed his fashion house. He was 91.

Armani died at home, the fashion house said. Armani, one of the most recognizable names and faces in the global fashion industry, missed Milan Fashion Week in June 2025 for the first time during the previews of Spring-Zomer 2026 men’s clothing to recover from a non-commercial state. He was planning a big event to celebrate 50 years of his characteristic Giorgio Armani Fashion House during the Milan Fashion Week this month.

Starting with an unreliable jacket, a simple pair of pants and an urban palette, Armani placed Italian ready-made style on the international fashion card in the late 1970s, creating a directly recognizable relaxed silhouette that the fashion house has been propelled for half a century.

From the Executive Office to the Hollywood screen, Armani dressed the rich and famous in classic tailor-made styles, formed in super soft fabrics and damped tones. His handsome black tie -outfits and glittering evening dresses have often stolen the show on red tapets of the Award season.

At the time of his death, Armani had compiled a richly worth more than $ 10 billion, which, together with clothing accessories, home furnishings, perfumes, cosmetics, books, flowers and even chocolates, so that he is in the top 200 billionaires in the world, according to Forbes.

The designer also had various bars, clubs, restaurants and his own basketball team EA7 Emporio Armani Milan, better known as Olympia Milano. Armani has opened more than 20 restaurants from Milan to Tokyo since 1998, and two hotels, one in Dubai in 2009 and another in Milan, in 2010.

Armani himself was the basis of his style

Armani style started with Giorgio Armani himself, from the penetrating blue eyes framed in a permanent brown and early shock of silver hair, to the trademark Jeans and T-shirt workwear and the minimalist decoration of his private homes.

Armani’s fashion television was that of easy elegance where attention to detail made the difference.

“I design for real people. There is no virtue when making clothing and accessories that are not practical,” he said when he was asked to identify his customers.

In a conversation, the disarming smile of the designer and beautifully mild ways, the tough businessman believed, who was able to make creative talent in a fashion empire worth more than $ 10 billion. Never a merger nor a sale, Re Giorgio (King George) as the Italians call him, was always his own boss.

Armani, born on July 11, 1934, in Piacenza, a small town south of Milan, dreamed of becoming a doctor for a part -time job as a window decorator in a department store in Milan, opened his eyes to the fashion world.

In 1975, Armani and his partner Sergio Galeotti sold their Volkswagen for $ 10,000 to start their own men’s clothing label. Womenswear followed a year later.

The symbol of his new style was the lining -free sports jacket, which was launched in the late 1970s and became an immediate success from Hollywood to Wall Street. The designer combined the jacket with a simple T-shirt, a piece of clothing that he called “the Alfa and Omega of the fashion alphabet”.

The Armani suit soon became a must in the welfare cupboard. And for women, the introduction of the Broekpak in the executive office was anything but revolutionary. Dubbed the “Power Suit” with his shoulder-felt jacket and man-tail pants, it became the trademark of the rising class of businesswomen in the 1980s.

Over the years, Armani would alleviate the look with delicate detailing, luxurious substances and brighter shades for his basic beige and gray palette. His insistence on pants and coats led some critics to label his fashion ‘Androgyn’.

Armani touches Hollywood

The film Classic “American Gigolo” from 1980 launched both Armani and actor Richard Gere on their Hollywood career. Ger, dressed in Armani, became Gere America’s new favorite Hart Klop and “Geeorgeo” as they called him, the most popular designer of the glamor set.

The Hollywood -Connection earned him in more than 200 films in more than 200 films, and in 2003 a place on “Walk of Fame” from Rodeo Drive.

Oscar Night always sparkled, with smart appropriate for the men and glittering dresses for the ladies. The best actor winner of 2009 Sean Penn took his statue in a black-on-black Armani-outfit, while the best actress-nominated Anne Hathaway ran the Rode Loper in a shimmering white street evening dress from Armani’s newest private couture collection.

Other old devoted were Jodie Foster, George Clooney, Sofia Loren and Brad Pitt. David and Victoria Beckham were the “face” of his 2009 advertising campaign underwear.

The impact of Armani style was that important, not just how people dressed, but how they approached fashion, which in 2000 the Guggenheim Museum of New York presented a retrospective of Armani’s first 25 years in fashion.

“I like things that are getting older, things that do not date and live examples become the absolute best,” Armani said about his efforts.

Armani has gone much further than fashion

Nowadays, the Armani rich has an army of more than 9,000 employees, with women consisting of half of the executive suite, together with seven industrial hubs and more than 600 stores worldwide, according to figures that will be released in 2023. Together with clothing and accessories, the company produces perfumes, cosmetics and house fertilizers, and the sale of its own Kandy, flowers and even books. In February 2009, the designer opened his fifth multi-brand shop on the fashionable Fifth Avenue in New York.

Armani had various bars, restaurants and clubs in the field of fashion hobbies, as well as the basketball team. Recreation time was spent in outings in Broni in the countryside near Milan, the island of Pantelleria for Sicily and St. Tropez on the French Riviera. Each house wore the trademark of Armani Design: bare walls, important pieces, few trashes.

Like many of his colleagues, Armani tried to return part of fame and fortune that he gained during the heyday of the “Moda Milanese”, which was ready in Italian in the middle of the world map of the world at the start of the Millennium. Personally involved in various charity organizations dedicated to children and an avid supporter of the fight against AIDS, Armani was named ambassador of UN Goodwill for refugees in 2002.

Galeotti died in 1985. Armani had no children, but was very close to his niece Roberta, daughter of his deceased brother Sergio. She left a budding film career to become his director of Public Relations, and often represented her uncle, who was not really a party visitor, at social events. In later years she was an important intermediary with the famous world.

In 2006 she orchestrated the top-billed wedding of actors Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes in a medieval castle outside of Rome, while Uncle Giorgio designed the clothing for both bride and groom.

Armani had indicated that, as he followed, he went to his old head of men’s clothing Leo Dell’orco and his nicht Silvana Armani, who plays the same role for women’s clothing.