‘A legend’: Julia Roberts, Anna Wintour lead tributes for Giorgio Armani, dead at 91

It all began with the jacket. Giorgio Armani twisted and bruised the angular piece of clothing – tearing out the padding, adjusting the proportions, moving the buttons – until he was left with something supple as a cardigan, light as a shirt.

“Removing all rigidity from the garment and discovering an unexpected naturalness,” as he put it years later. “It was the starting point for everything that came after.”

The end for Armani, 91, was announced late on Thursday AEST by the group that carries his name, mourning the death of “Il Signor Armani” after 50 years helming the brand that has become one of the fashion world’s most recognisable.

“In this company, we have always felt like part of a family. Today, with deep emotion, we feel the void left by the one who founded and nurtured this family with vision, passion, and dedication,” the Armani Group said in a statement.

It said its founder had “worked until his final days” before passing away peacefully at home, where he was surrounded by loved ones.

Then, as if to cement the immortality of the Italian designer who turned the concept of understated elegance into a multibillion-dollar fashion empire, came the flood of tributes from Armani’s contemporaries at the industry’s upper crust, and the celebrities who had donned his creations.

“He understood power and attitude and elegance as well as anyone ever has in fashion, and he understood women too: how they wanted to dress and what message they wanted to send as they asserted themselves through his rise in the ’70s, ’80s, and beyond,” former Vogue editor Anna Wintour said.

American designer Ralph Lauren described Armani as a man who “lived with great humility and a love of living”. Donatella Versace said the world had “lost a giant”.

His impact on Hollywood was evident in the outpouring of grief from some of the acting world’s biggest names. “A true friend. A Legend,” Julia Roberts posted on social media, while Morgan Freeman said Armani’s genius had “touched many lives”.

“On screen and off, in quiet moments and on the grandest stages, I have had the honour of wearing Armani,” he said.

Russell Crowe reflected on finding salvation during a last-minute trip to the Armani store to suit up for the 1997 Cannes Film Festival. “That began a love affair with Armani suits that continues to this day,” he said.

Victoria Beckham, who along with her husband David fronted an Armani underwear campaign in 2009, said he was “a visionary designer whose legacy will live on forever”.

Armani 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.

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 built an empire worth more than $US10 billion ($15 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 himself was the foundation of his style

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 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. 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 dreamt of becoming a doctor before a part-time job as a window decorator in a Milan department store opened his eyes to the world of fashion.

In 1975, Armani and his partner Sergio Galeotti sold their Volkswagen for $US10,000 to start their own menswear ready-to-wear label. Womenswear followed a year later.

The symbol of his new style was the liningless sports jacket, which was launched in the late 1970s and became an instant success from Hollywood to Wall Street. The designer paired the jacket with a simple t-shirt, an item of clothing he termed “the alpha and omega of the fashion alphabet.”

The Armani suit soon became a must in the closet of the well-heeled man. And for women, the introduction of the pantsuit in the executive workroom was all but revolutionary. Dubbed the “power suit” with its shoulder-padded jacket and man-tailored trousers, it became the trademark of the rising class of businesswomen in the 1980s.

Over the years, Armani would soften the power look with delicate detailing, luxurious fabrics and brighter shades for his basic beige and grey palette. His insistence on pants and jackets led some critics to label his fashion “androgynous”.

Armani hits Hollywood

The 1980 film classic American Gigolo launched both Armani and actor Richard Gere on their Hollywood careers. Dressed in Armani, Gere became America’s new favourite heart throb, and “Geeorgeeo” as they called him, the glam set’s most popular designer.

The Hollywood connection earned him wardrobe film credits in more than 200 films, and in 2003 a place on Rodeo Drive’s “Walk of Fame”.

Oscar night always sparkled, with smart suiting for the men, and glittering gowns for the ladies. The 2009 best actor winner Sean Penn picked up his statue in a black-on-black Armani outfit, while best actress nominee Anne Hathaway walked the red carpet in a shimmering white strapless evening gown from Armani’s Prive couture collection.

Other longtime devotees included Jodie Foster, George Clooney, Sofia Loren and Brad Pitt. David and Victoria Beckham were the faces of his 2009 underwear ad campaign.

So significant was the impact of Armani style, not only on how people dressed but how they approached fashion, that in 2000 New York’s Guggenheim Museum presented a retrospective of Armani’s first 25 years in fashion.

“I love things that age well, things that don’t date and become living examples of the absolute best,” Armani said of his efforts.

Armani has gone well beyond fashion

Today, the Armani empire has an army of more than 9000 employees, with women comprising half of the executive suite. It has seven industrial hubs and more than 600 stores worldwide, according to figures released in 2023. Along with clothes and accessories, the company produces perfumes, cosmetics and home furnishings, as well as selling its own candy, flowers and even books. The designer opened his fifth multi-brand store on New York’s fashionable Fifth Avenue in 2009.

In the realm of fashion hobbies, Armani owned several bars, restaurants and clubs, as well as the basketball team. Recreation time was spent in getaways in Broni in the countryside near Milan, the isle of Pantelleria off Sicily and St Tropez on the French Riviera. Each home bore the trademark of Armani design: bare walls, important pieces, few knickknacks.

Like many of his colleagues, Armani tried to give back some of the fame and fortune he amassed during the heyday of the “moda Milanese” which put Italian ready-to-wear at the centre of the world’s fashion map at the turn of the millennium. He was personally involved in several charity organisations devoted to children, was a staunch supporter of the battle against AIDS, and in 2002 was named a United Nations goodwill ambassador for refugees.

AP, Reuters

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