Support for LAist comes from
Local and national news, NPR, things to do, food recommendations and guides to Los Angeles, Orange County and the Inland Empire
Stay Connected
Listen

Share This

News

Fashion designer Giorgio Armani, whose name became synonymous with luxury, dies at 91

Giorgio Armani walks the runway during Paris Fashion Week in January 2019.
Giorgio Armani walks the runway during Paris Fashion Week in January 2019.
(
Pascal Le Segretain
/
Getty Images
)

Congress has cut federal funding for public media — a $3.4 million loss for LAist. We count on readers like you to protect our nonprofit newsroom. Become a monthly member and sustain local journalism.

Giorgio Armani is a name synonymous with luxury. Celebrities have flaunted his fashion on the red carpet for decades. But Armani, who would eventually own a business empire worth billions, grew up without much money. As a child, his mother made all of his clothes. Still, he was the envy of his classmates, as Armani remembered in the 1990 documentary Made In Milan. He looked wealthy even though his family was poor.

Armani died Thursday in Milan, according to his family. He was 91.

Born July 11, 1934, in Piacenza, Italy, Armani was the second of three children. Even as a child, he loved early 20th-century designers, artists and architects. In 1975, he founded his Italian luxury fashion house Armani in Milan. Soon after, the movie American Gigolo helped make him a household name in the United States.

Support for LAist comes from

In that 1980 crime drama, Richard Gere plays a high-end sex worker. The film begins as Gere enters a fancy boutique, complete with a uniformed doorman. The camera ogles Gere as he stands in front of a mirror, trying on a relaxed, single-breasted, two-button brown Armani jacket.

At the time, a streamlined silhouette was uncommon in men's fashion. Armani jackets did not use traditional padding and shifted away from standard colors such as blue and black. Armani suits offered a sculptural quality, with more casual silhouettes and softer colors.

A man wearing all black stands with his arms outstretched. A group of people stand in a line behind him, applauding
Giorgio Armani acknowledges the audience during the Milan Men's Fashion Week in June 2019.
(
Vittorio Zunino Celotto
/
Getty Images
)

Armani's clothing were made with the goal of highlighting the body as an object of art. Design historian John Potvin wrote the 2013 book Giorgio Armani: Empire of the Senses. He says Armani's greatest contribution to the world of fashion was the subtlety of how he revolutionized how we dress. "He made formal wear and sportswear incredibly comfortable and incredibly accessible," Potvin told NPR.

Well, maybe not accessible to everyone. Armani's ready-to-wear men's suits easily cost thousands of dollars. His sleek, austere lines lent themselves to office culture, and women in the corporate world embraced Armani for generations, in part because of an androgynous edge that made him a favorite of some female movie stars.

At the 1990 Golden Globes, Julie Roberts accepted her Best Supporting Actress award for Steel Magnolias wearing an oversized gray suit with a purple tie. It was a subversive, sexy fashion choice well outside of the confines of extravagant, floor-length gowns. Potvin calls the look "iconic," "extremely '90s" and "very masculine."

Support for LAist comes from

"And at the same time, she looked unbelievable, as she always does anyway," Potvin said. "We have Armani to thank [for making] formal wear just so much more livable."

A man wearing all black and white tennis shoes stands against a shite wall. His hands rests on an oversized sculpture of a black pencil
Giorgio Armani on the runway during the Milan Fashion Week in June 2023.
(
Pietro S. D'Aprano
/
Getty Images
)

Over the years, Armani retained ownership of his privately-held company, which generated $2.4 billion in revenue in 2022 alone. In addition to clothing, the Armani fashion house designs, manufactures, distributes, and retails leather goods, shoes, accessories and fragrances. More affordable versions of his clothes have been sold in malls through Armani Exchange since the 1990s, but Giorgio Armani never lost his style and direction. His influence on the world of fashion feels eternal.
Copyright 2025 NPR

As Editor-in-Chief of our newsroom, I’m extremely proud of the work our top-notch journalists are doing here at LAist. We’re doing more hard-hitting watchdog journalism than ever before — powerful reporting on the economy, elections, climate and the homelessness crisis that is making a difference in your lives. At the same time, it’s never been more difficult to maintain a paywall-free, independent news source that informs, inspires, and engages everyone.

Simply put, we cannot do this essential work without your help. Federal funding for public media has been clawed back by Congress and that means LAist has lost $3.4 million in federal funding over the next two years. So we’re asking for your help. LAist has been there for you and we’re asking you to be here for us.

We rely on donations from readers like you to stay independent, which keeps our nonprofit newsroom strong and accountable to you.

No matter where you stand on the political spectrum, press freedom is at the core of keeping our nation free and fair. And as the landscape of free press changes, LAist will remain a voice you know and trust, but the amount of reader support we receive will help determine how strong of a newsroom we are going forward to cover the important news from our community.

Please take action today to support your trusted source for local news with a donation that makes sense for your budget.

Thank you for your generous support and believing in independent news.

Chip in now to fund your local journalism
A row of graphics payment types: Visa, MasterCard, Apple Pay and PayPal, and  below a lock with Secure Payment text to the right
(
LAist
)

Trending on LAist