AA Edit | Farewell Armani: End Of An Era
Armani, a window dresser for the Milanese department store La Rinascente with an eye for style, founded his own company in 1975. In the late 1970s, he introduced an unlined jacket and soft tailoring that moved away from ostentation and toward effortless grace — an aesthetic that thrust Italian ready-to-wear into global prominence
The death of fashion czar Giorgio Armani marks the end of a chapter in understated fashion, defined by restraint, refinement and resolute independence. He rediscovered fashion unfettered by legacy and created the modern minimalist style that wooed CEOs to Hollywood celebrities.
Armani, a window dresser for the Milanese department store La Rinascente with an eye for style, founded his own company in 1975. In the late 1970s, he introduced an unlined jacket and soft tailoring that moved away from ostentation and toward effortless grace — an aesthetic that thrust Italian ready-to-wear into global prominence.
By the 1980s, he reintroduced new suits for men by removing shoulder pads and canvas linings. The new design, which revealed the contours of the body inside, soon became a fashion statement for elites. The combination of grey and beige became his signature and redefined the glamour of the star. The easy and almost louche sensuality of his suits also found favour among his female clientele.
By 1990, the camera-shy man, who would have become a movie director, if not a fashion stylist, became an undeclared czar of the fashion world. What set him apart was not just his creative brilliance but his unwavering independence and his desire to have control over everything that he created.
He resisted offers from fashion conglomerates and retained full ownership of the empire he built, which includes clothing lines, fragrances, homes, restaurants, and hotels, among others. When he missed his couture show in July this year — the only one that he ever missed — because of his health issues, the Italian fashion guru declared through an email that everything that was at the show was overseen and approved by him.
Armani’s rise as a global brand is a testament that one man’s quiet conviction can reshape how the world dresses, moves and remembers style. In the future, the world may shift to some other style, which could be different from his, but he will be remembered as the person whose resolute independence gave freedom for upcoming fashion designers to reinvent.