Giorgio Armani, fashion designer and businessman, 1934-2025

{"text":[[{"start":13.153,"text":"Giorgio Armani, the visionary Italian designer who has died at the age of 91, founded the world’s largest private luxury brand by indulging in minimalism and pioneering the idea that Hollywood could be a branding platform for fashion labels."}],[{"start":32.72,"text":"For more than perhaps any other designer, il signor Armani understood that fashion was not only about clothes but lifestyle, and changed not only how men and women dressed, but also how they ate, travelled and decorated their homes, reshaping the fashion industry in the process."}],[{"start":55.76,"text":"Announcing his death on Thursday, his fashion house said it would always reflect his spirit, adding that it would set up a funeral chamber at its headquarters this weekend ahead of a private burial."}],[{"start":69.932,"text":"“My goal in the beginning was to assert my vision and to dress people,” Armani told the Financial Times in an interview published just last week, “In some ways it’s still the same idea today.”"}],[{"start":85.242,"text":"Born in Piacenza, south of Milan, in 1934, Armani was the second of three children. His family moved to Italy’s fashion capital in the 1950s just as he dropped out of medical school and joined the design team at luxury department store La Rinascente as a window dresser."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":107.802,"text":"Despite lacking a formal fashion education, he went on to design for Nino Cerruti’s Hitman before founding his own fashion house in 1975 alongside architect Sergio Galeotti. Suits, he believed, should be as easy and comfortable to wear as the T-shirts and trousers he himself favoured and wore his entire life."}],[{"start":135.226,"text":"“They should give confidence but not define the personality,” he said."}],[{"start":140.586,"text":"His deconstructed take on men’s jackets was the antithesis of the typical Savile Row structured suits and remains Armani’s distinctive men’s style. His breakthrough came in 1980 when he dressed Richard Gere in the film American Gigolo."}],[{"start":160.49,"text":"In 1983 Armani opened an office in Los Angeles, the first designer to do so with the specific aim of dressing celebrities. His suits became the uniform of Hollywood studios, while his beaded evening gowns were ubiquitous on the red carpet thanks to acolytes including Angelica Huston, Jodie Foster and Michelle Pfeiffer."}],[{"start":185.84,"text":"When rival brands saw the resulting press, the modern synergy between fashion and film was born, and Armani was enshrined as a pioneering businessman, a role he embodied for the rest of his career."}],[{"start":203.352,"text":"Armani used to say he would not have become the man and designer he was without the influence of cinema, which he called “a constant source of ideas and inspiration, a mine of images upon which to draw and build my world”."}],[{"start":226.08,"text":"Fashion historians consider him one of the most influential figures in the past half century. In Italy, where he went on to become one of the country’s richest men with a fortune of more than €12bn, he was a national treasure who transcended the luxury industry."}],[{"start":247.225,"text":"In 2023 he said it was the general public who appreciated him as a person and not the stars that made his efforts worthwhile."}],[{"start":259.2,"text":"“I don’t know how any of us can think any of this is replicable without me,” Armani told the FT that year on the sidelines of a grandiose event he hosted in Venice."}],[{"start":272.337,"text":"His group now includes brands Emporio Armani, Armani Exchange and the higher-end Giorgio Armani as well as luxury hotels and restaurants across the world and a lucrative beauty and homeware line."}],[{"start":288.983,"text":"With no clear succession plan in place, many fear the empire will end with Armani’s death. But he told the FT in 2023 that although he was “scared to die”, he was working to ensure his legacy and style “footprint” would endure."}],[{"start":307.92,"text":"Nieces Roberta and Silvana Armani work for the group, while Andrea Camerana, his nephew, is a board member. Pantaleo Dell’Orco, who heads the men’s style office and has worked with Armani for 46 years, has also taken on an increasingly important role within the company."}],[{"start":331.44,"text":"On Thursday, the company said his family and employees would “carry the group forward in respect and continuity” of the values he represented."}],[{"start":341.457,"text":"Unlike many of his peers, Armani always refused to sell the company to one of the French luxury conglomerates. And although he once opened the door to a possible tie-up with an “Italian group”, he ultimately opted to stay independent."}],[{"start":361.52,"text":"In 2016 he set up the Giorgio Armani Foundation, designed not only to fund social projects but also to shield his group from a future takeover or break-up."}],[{"start":374.32,"text":"The foundation will now own a stake, yet to be disclosed, in his fashion empire with the rest going to family members who will be barred from selling their stakes to any third party."}],[{"start":386.89,"text":"Wanting to stay true to his creative identity, even when it became less appealing to younger generations, and being able to call all the shots at the company until the very end are what pushed him to turn down every buyout offer. He could never cope with a boss, he used to joke."}],[{"start":406.394,"text":"While his tastes changed over time and more recent collections featured bright colour palettes and patterns that were a far cry from his more austere flagship designs, he always stuck to his own style, which remained understatedly sophisticated and sober. He said he “would have never adapted to the new [flashier] trends”."}],[{"start":430.96,"text":"While he enjoyed summer holidays at his home on the remote Sicilian island of Pantelleria and sailing the Mediterranean on his yacht Maìn, his mother’s nickname, he would reply to the many suggestions that he retire and enjoy life, “No, absolutely not.”"}],[{"start":450.589,"text":"This June’s haute couture show in Paris was the first such event he ever missed."}],[{"start":457.396,"text":"Known for his rigour, formality and a fixation for aesthetics, Armani was an intimidating presence at the company’s Milanese headquarters, where insiders say staff were fearful of his distaste — for example if he caught them eating at their desk."}],[{"start":474,"text":"His attention to detail both frustrated and amazed aides and friends. He would inspect venues before every show, changing the position of furniture and the intensity of lighting. One person who has worked for Armani describes an occasion when he told an employee his tie was 1.5cm too long so ruined the balance of his outfit. His iron grip on the company now leaves the question of who will take the group forward unanswered."}],[{"start":507.26,"text":"To many who worked for him he leaves an unfillable void. Some of them spent the better part of their adult lives in close contact with Armani, a workaholic who expected his closest aides to be so too."}],[{"start":523.76,"text":"At the 2023 show in Venice — his last on such a grand scale — staff and friends were particularly emotional."}],[{"start":532.621,"text":"Hollywood stars and colleagues from across the fashion industry, including Santo Versace and Moncler’s Remo Ruffini, joined others in a five-minute standing ovation at the end of the show as a teary Armani took his bow and walked around the Venice Arsenale, the city’s ancient shipyard, accompanied by one of his favourite models impeccably dressed in a tuxedo."}],[{"start":562,"text":"“I mourn someone I have always considered a friend, never a rival,” his fellow designer Valentino Garavani said on news of Armani’s death on Thursday. “And I can only bow to his immense talent . . . and above all, to his unwavering loyalty to one style: his own.”"}],[{"start":593.44,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftmailbox.cn/album/a_1757035684_1770.mp3"}