Popular Italian fashion designer and billionaire brand owner Giorgio Armani has died at the age of 91.
Giorgio Armani with Latvian model Agnes Zogla at his final runway show in January 2025
Giorgio Armani with Latvian model Agnes Zogla at his final runway show in January 2025
He was the archetype of Italian style and elegance, reimagining men’s and women’s suits for a modern audience.
Armani, which began as a fashion company, expanded into beauty, fragrance, music, sport, and even luxury hotels, while as a revered businessman, his company brought more than £2bn a year.
Giorgio Armani was seen as a pioneer of suit tailoring for men and women
Giorgio Armani was seen as a pioneer of suit tailoring for men and women
Donatella Versace paid tribute to the late designer on her Instagram page, posting a picture of him, saying: “The world lost a giant today, he made history and will be remembered forever.”
statement on the brand’s Instagram page, it said Armani ” worked until his final days, dedicating himself to the company, the collections and the many ongoing future projects”.
It also said he was “indefatigable to the end” and “driven by relentless curiosity and a deep attention to the present and to people”.
The designer was seen as a pioneer in many ways, elevating red carpet fashion to what we see today.
He was also the first designer to ban underweight models from the runway, after the death of model Ana Carolina Reston in 2006 from anorexia nervosa.
Russell Crowe described Armani as a man who “made a mark acknowledged around the globe”.
The actor said he “adored” Armani and was meant to be seeing him this month, adding that the designer was there for “so many significant moments in my life”.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni also paid tribute, saying: “With his elegance, sobriety, and creativity, he was able to bring lustre to Italian fashion and inspire the entire world.
“An icon, a tireless worker, a symbol of the best of Italy. Thank you for everything.”
In a profile in The Financial Times, in one of the designer’s last interviews, Alexander Fury wrote: “He put women into a uniform of suits just as radical as Chanel’s, creating forceful, confident clothing that helped to power the working woman’s social revolution of the 1980s.
By contrast, he relaxed menswear, deconstructing traditional tailoring in a manner that has affected how just about every suit in the world is made.”
A friend of Hollywood, he understood the power of publicity and dressed some of its biggest stars for the red carpet including for the Oscars – including Zendaya, Cate Blanchett and Julia Roberts.