Fashion legend Giorgio Armani has died at age 91.
“Il Signor Armani, as he was always respectfully and admiringly called by employees and collaborators, passed away peacefully, surrounded by his loved ones,” The Armani Group confirmed in a statement on Thursday, calling him “a tireless driving force.”
His family and employees added, “Today, with deep emotion, we feel the void left by the one who founded and nurtured this family with vision, passion, and dedication. But it is precisely in his spirit that we…commit to protecting what he built and to carrying his company forward in his memory, with respect, responsibility, and love.”
Armani was one of the most influential designers of the modern era, credited with reshaping both men’s and women’s fashion. His brand became a global empire spanning clothing, beauty, sports, music and hotels, generating billions annually.
Born in Piacenza, Italy, in 1934, Armani studied medicine and served in the military before entering the fashion world in 1957 as a window dresser in Milan. His big break came in 1964 when designer Nino Cerruti hired him to design menswear. It was there that he began developing the relaxed, unstructured jacket that would become his signature and change tailoring worldwide.
By the 1980s, Armani was dressing Hollywood stars and business leaders, and his looks became a staple on red carpets. He was also the first major designer to ban underweight models from his shows, making headlines after the 2006 death of Brazilian model Ana Carolina Reston from anorexia nervosa.
In June 2025, Armani missed his traditional bow at the end of Milan Men’s Fashion Week, marking the first time in his career he had not closed a show. At the time, the brand said he was recovering at home, but gave no further details.
In one of his final interviews, Financial Times fashion critic Alexander Fury summed up Armani’s impact: “He put women into a uniform of suits just as radical as Chanel’s…By contrast, he relaxed menswear, deconstructing traditional tailoring in a manner that has affected how just about every suit in the world is made.”
