Fashion designer Giorgio Armani dead at 91
Published:Thursday | September 4, 2025 | 12:12 PM
MILAN (AP):
Giorgio Armani, the iconic Italian designer who turned the concept of understated elegance into a multibillion-dollar fashion empire, has died, his fashion house confirmed. He was 91.
Armani died at home, the fashion house said. Armani, one of the most recognisable names and faces in the global fashion industry, missed Milan Fashion Week in June 2025 for the first time during the previews of Spring-Summer 2026 menswear to recover from an undisclosed condition.
He was planning a major event to celebrate 50 years of his signature Giorgio Armani fashion house during Milan Fashion Week this month.
Armani, who maintained a firm grip on his empire and collections until the end, had been reluctant to discuss succession, but had announced a foundation as a succession tool to avoid his businesses being split up.
He also indicated the creative succession to Leo Dell'Orco and his niece Silvana Armani, who have headed the menswear and womenswear collections, respectively, for all Armani collections: Giorgio Armani, Emporio Armani and Armani Exchange.
Starting with an unlined jacket, a simple pair of pants and an urban palette, Armani put Italian ready-to-wear style on the international fashion map in the late 1970s, creating an instantly recognisable relaxed silhouette that has propelled the fashion house for half a century.
From the executive office to the Hollywood screen, Armani dressed the rich and famous in classic tailored styles, fashioned in super-soft fabrics and muted tones. His handsome black tie outfits and glittering evening gowns often stole the show on award season red carpets.
At the time of his death, Armani had put together an empire worth over US$10 billion, which, along with clothing, included accessories, home furnishings, perfumes, cosmetics, books, flowers and even chocolates, ranking him in the world’s top 200 billionaires, according to Forbes.
The designer also owned several bars, clubs, restaurants and his own basketball team, EA7 Emporio Armani Milan, better known as Olympia Milano. Armani opened more than 20 restaurants from Milan to Tokyo since 1998, and two hotels, one in Dubai in 2009 and another in Milan in 2010.
Armani style began with Giorgio Armani himself, from the penetrating blue eyes framed in a permanent tan and early-age shock of silver hair, to the trademark jeans and t-shirt work clothes and the minimalist decoration of his private homes.
Armani’s fashion vision was that of easygoing elegance, where attention to detail made the difference.
“I design for real people. There is no virtue whatsoever in creating clothes and accessories that are not practical,” he liked to say when asked to identify his clientele.
In conversation, the designer’s disarming smile and exquisitely mild manners belied the tough businessman underneath, who was able to turn creative talent into a fashion empire worth over US$10 billion. Never a merger nor a sale, Re Giorgio (King George), as the Italians call him, was always his own boss.
Born July 11, 1934, in Piacenza, a small town south of Milan, Armani had no children, but was very close to his niece Roberta, the daughter of his late brother Sergio. She abandoned a budding film career to become his director of public relations, and often represented her uncle, who wasn’t much of a party-goer, at social events. In later years, she was a key go-between with the celebrity world.
In 2006, she orchestrated the top-billed wedding of actors Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes in a medieval castle outside Rome, while Uncle Giorgio designed the attire for both bride and groom.