Giorgio Armani: The Reinvention of the Suit

Giorgio Armani is closely associated with one garment: a softer, lighter tailored jacket that changed how the suit was worn by men and women from the 1970s onwards. That garment was the result of some twenty years spent learning the clothing business from the inside, first in retail and then in industrial menswear, before he founded his own company in Milan.

Piacenza, Bologna and La Rinascente

Armani was born in Piacenza on 11 July 1934. He began studying medicine, at the University of Bologna according to most reference works, but left after a short time, and after a period of military service he found work at the Milan department store La Rinascente. There, from the mid-1950s, he worked as a window dresser and later as a stylist and menswear buyer. The experience gave him a close knowledge of how clothes were sold and what customers wanted.

Cerruti and the menswear industry

In the 1960s Armani moved to the textile and clothing firm of Nino Cerruti, where he designed menswear for its Hitman line. The work brought him into contact with industrial production: how a jacket was cut, made and finished in quantity. He was critical of what he found in conventional tailoring, and later said of men's jackets of the period: "They turned out the jackets like cars—they all looked the same."

At the end of the 1960s he met Sergio Galeotti, who became his partner in life and in business. From the early 1970s Armani worked as a freelance designer for several firms, and Galeotti encouraged him to open his own design office in Milan.

1975

On 24 July 1975 Armani and Galeotti founded Giorgio Armani S.p.A. in Milan. The first Giorgio Armani ready-to-wear collections, for men and women, were presented that year. According to one business history, the company started with working capital of about $10,000, raised in part by selling a car.

The jackets Armani designed in these years removed much of the padding, lining and stiffening that gave a traditional jacket its rigid shape. The result was a garment that followed the body more naturally while keeping the proportions of tailoring. Armani described his aim as "a type of sports jacket that's relaxed, informal, less stiff". He applied the same approach to women's tailoring.

Cinema and expansion

In 1980 Armani designed the wardrobe for Richard Gere in Paul Schrader's film American Gigolo, the beginning of a long association with Hollywood. Two years earlier he had dressed Diane Keaton for the Academy Awards ceremony at which she won Best Actress for Annie Hall. Film and public appearances made the softer suit widely visible.

The business expanded quickly. In 1981 the house launched Emporio Armani and Armani Jeans, and in 1982 Armani appeared on the cover of Time. Sergio Galeotti died in 1985. Armani remained at the head of the company, which stayed independent for the rest of his life. Later milestones included the couture line Giorgio Armani Privé, first shown in Paris in 2005, and the exhibition space Armani/Silos in Milan, opened in 2015.

After his death

Giorgio Armani died at his home in Milan on 4 September 2025, aged 91. In his will he set out a plan for the company's future: the Giorgio Armani Foundation, created in 2016, would remain a permanent shareholder, while an initial minority stake of 15 per cent was to be sold within eighteen months of his death. As of September 2026 no buyer had been announced. In the same month Dario Vitale, formerly of Versace, was appointed creative director of Emporio Armani and of Giorgio Armani accessories.