Giorgio Armani dies at 91, The legendary designer pronounced dead On Thursday
The world of fashion was thrown into mourning yesterday, 4th September, 2025, as the demise of iconic Italian fashion designer Giorgio Armani was broken.
Giorgio Armani, who re-modelled contemporary fashion and established a global fashion empire in his own name, dies at 91 yesterday.
Armani ailed from Piacenza, a city very close to Milan in Italy and developed from modest beginnings to become a billionaire whose classic suits reshaped how men and women dressed in the late 20th century.
Giorgio Armani’s name soon became a global brand for elegance, worn in official meetings, on cinema screens and red carpets. His passing took place in his home on Thursday.
During the time of his death, Armani’s wealth was estimated at $12.1bn. He was a lone shareholder and chief executive of his fashion brand he established in 1975, chairing over an empire that extended from Emporio and Armani Exchange to haute couture, hotels, restaurants, cosmetics, and homeware.
Before his death, his health had started declining, and he was advised to step down from Milan Men’s Fashion Week in June─the first ever period in his fashion career he was forced to miss a show in the city where his career began.
Giorgio Armani Dies At 91
“With infinite sorrow, the Armani Group announces the passing of its creator, founder, and tireless driving force: Giorgio Armani,” according to the statement by fashion.
According to sources, a funeral chamber will be opened in Milan on Saturday and Sunday, as disclosed by the fashion company, with a private service scheduled to hold at a later date.
Being one of the high-profiled names in fashion, Armani is known by historians and critics as one of the most influential Europeans designers of the 20th century. He is known in Italy as “Re Giorgio”─King Giorgio─he was recognised for his excellent standards, personally overseeing everything from advertising campaigns on how models’ hair should be styled before stepping on the runway.
In one of the statements released by his company, he said he had forged a “vision that expanded from fashion to every aspect of life, anticipating the times with extraordinary clarity and pragmatism”.
It added that Armani had been “mindful of the needs of the community” and “active on many fronts, especially in support of his beloved Milan”. The house described itself as “a reflection of this spirit” and pledged to uphold his values.
Since his death, tribute across the world has been pouring in. Donatella Versace said: “The world has lost a giant today.”
Giorgio Armani Dies At 91
Also paying online tribute is Italy’s Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, who described Armani as “a man of elegance, sobriety and creativity” who “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 the tribute of German actor Diane Kruger, who always wears Armani on red carpet, wrote: “Incredibly saddened to hear about the passing of Giorgio Armani. One of the nicest people and mentors I was lucky enough to meet and work with.”
Giorgio Armani is honoured with giving working women of the 1980s a wardrobe of timeless, feminine suits designed for official use.
As his fashion career went on, he would claim that he made clothes for “the public, not the fashion industry.”
After launching his iconic brand in 1975, he oversaw its development into a global empire. The fashion brand transformed from menswear into Emporio Armani, Armani Exchange and the highend Giorgio Armani line, alongside accessories, footwear, cosmetics and homewares.
Maybe more than any other fashion designer, Giorgio Armani managed to influence not only fashion but lifestyle itself, transforming how people travelled, ate and worked.
During his death time, he happened to be one of Italy’s wealthiest men, with business interests spanning restaurants, luxury hotels – including the Armani Hotel in Dubai’s Burj Khalifa─and a beauty partnership with L’Oréal.
Early Life
Giorgio Armani was born in Piacenza, northern region of Italy, on 11th July, 1943, a second born of Maria Raimondi and Ugo Armani, and grew together with his elder brother Sergio and younger sister Rosanna.
Giorgio Armani Dies At 91
The family was of middle-class, but Armani remembered how his friends at school became envious of his handmade clothes sewn by his mother. He severally spoke of getting his inspiration from his parents’ “inner elegance”, despite their modest means.
While growing up, he aspired to become a medic, a dream which made him to enroll at the University of Milan, studying in the faculty of medicine for three years before jettisoning the course in 1953.
After a spending a period at national service with the Italian Army, where he was deployed to an infirmary in Verona, he ventured instead into retail.
He joined Milan department store La Rinascente as a window dresser, scaling his way up to the department of menswear before bagging his first design role with Nino Cerruti in the 1960s.
Within that decade, he also met with an architect, Sergio Galeotti, who eventually became his partner in both life and business. The duo founded Giorgio Armani label in 1975, when Armani turned 41.
A few months later, in October, he unveiled his debut collection: a men’s ready-to-wear line for spring/summer 1976, followed by a women’s line in the same season.
The limelight came for the brand in 1980, when Armani dressed Richard Gere for his role as Julian Kaye in American Gigolo. The movie, with his sleek tailoring and languid sensuality, provided Armani household name and solidified his name in Hollywood.
He furthered to design a costume for Brian De Palma’s the Untouchable in 1987 and, some years later, for Leonardo DiCaprio in the movie titled: “Wolf of Wall Streets in 2013.
Giorgio Armani Dies At 91
Though renowned for his modernisation in suiting─stripping away padding and stiffness to create natural, free elegance─Armani slowly and steadily revolutionized beyond ready-to-wear.
In the early 80s, he introduced Emporio Armani, Armani Jeans and Armani Junior, followed by lines for underwear, swimwear and accessories. By the early 80s, he had signed a great agreement with the French beauty giant L’Oreal, introducing Armani Beauty, which still is one of the most successful global cosmetics brands today.
In 1991, Armani launched A/X Armani Exchange, a line of simpler, cheaper designs offering everyday pieces such as T-shirts for men and women. He became constant appearance on red carpets, dressing Hollywood stars and musicians, and was credited with shaping the look of his friend Eric Clapton, even dressing the guitarist’s whole brand in Armani.
Frankly private about his personal life, he acknowledged in a 2000 interview with Vanity Fair: “I have had women in my life. And sometimes men.”
Until his death, he remained the chief executive and only shareholder of Giorgio Armani S.p.A, transforming it to become one of the few major Italian fashion brands of his generation independent of international syndicates.
He also became an early pioneer of technology, becoming pioneer in haute couture designer to broadcast a collection live on the internet with his Armani Privé spring/summer 2007 show, streamed via MSN.
Armani was able to maintain close dominance over every aspect of the fashion business.
As noted by former aide, no document or financial figure pass without his approval. In one of his recent interviews, he revealed to the Financial Times that his biggest fear was death, because it would translate to him relinquishing control of his label.
Giorgio Armani Dies At 91
“I know Giorgio Armani, the company, is identified with me,” he said in 2023.
“So it is my responsibility to make sure this will continue and that the company will have a footprint that will resemble il signor Armani.”
Afterwards, Armani became increasingly vocal about the industry he had sacrificed to build. He described Anna Wintour, the powerful US vogue editor, as “not professional”, and slammed how some gay men dressed, stating that “a man has to be a man.”
He also described John Galliano, which was rebuffed by Dior in 2011 after its anti-semitic remarks, as “a genius but also a victim.”
Giorgio Armani, in counter-reaction against those who criticised his label as too commercial and too restrained, claimed that his designs were created for “the public, not for the fashion industry.”
Giorgio Armani Dies At 91
