The legendary designer leaves behind an indelible mark on world fashion.

In a hushed, almost modest silence&mdash;just like him&mdash;<a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/giorgio-armani-lofficiel-archives" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Giorgio Arman</a>i passed away at the age of 91. With him, the world lost far more than a fashion designer: it lost a symbol of Italian style, a master of pure lines, a craftsman of timeless elegance. The world has lost a man, but fashion has lost a king. A discreet sovereign, whose reign required no crown&mdash;only a perfectly tailored jacket.
Born in Piacenza in 1934, Armani grew up amid the hardships of the postwar years and the blue waters of the Trebbia River, in the countryside he never forgot. &ldquo;I will always remain attached to that world,&rdquo; he once confided, with the calm lucidity that defined his life. From an early age, he understood the price of freedom, and he never stopped believing in democracy and in the importance of remembering the past to build a dignified future.
Before becoming the icon we know today, Armani began by studying medicine in Milan. But in 1957, he left his studies behind and joined La Rinascente as a simple window dresser. That first encounter with visual staging proved decisive. His eye was sharpened, his sensitivity revealed, and his taste refined. A reserved man&mdash;&ldquo;I wasn&rsquo;t shy, I was extremely shy,&rdquo; he admitted&mdash;he carried within him a rare, almost innate aesthetic sensibility.

Giorgio Armani during the preparation of his Autumn/Winter collection. Photo by Vittoriano Rastelli. Getty Images.

In the 1960s, working alongside Nino Cerruti, he honed his skills in menswear. Then, in 1975, he founded his own fashion house: Giorgio Armani S.p.A. The legend was set in motion. The following year, he presented his first women&rsquo;s line. His style quickly resonated: clean lines, soft fabrics, understated colors. A revolution was quietly taking shape.
If Armani&rsquo;s essence could be distilled into a single garment, it would be the deconstructed jacket. Introduced in the mid-1970s, it broke with the rigid codes of classic tailoring. Unlined and unstructured, it followed the body without constraining it. It became the emblem of a generation entering the professional world without renouncing its individuality. Neither strictly masculine nor strictly feminine, the jacket became as much a cultural statement as an aesthetic one.
Soon, Armani conquered Hollywood. In 1978, Diane Keaton wore one of his creations to the Oscars. In 1980, he dressed Richard Gere in American Gigolo: a stroke of genius that propelled men&rsquo;s fashion into the age of modern glamour. Two years later, Time magazine named him &ldquo;Man of the Year.&rdquo; That same year, his fashion house generated 170 billion lire. The Armani name had become a global institution.

Photography courtesy of Giorgio Armani/Getty Images.

His style? A tribute to black-and-white cinema, to America in the 1920s and &rsquo;30s, to deep grays, to greige (the space between gray and beige), to Armani blue, to that muted yet eloquent elegance. He also drew inspiration from the Orient: cuts reminiscent of the djellaba, Mao collars, noble yet simple fabrics. He dressed the body, but touched the soul.
In the 1980s, he created Emporio Armani, a younger, bolder line. In 2000, he launched Armani Casa, transposing his aesthetic into the world of interior design&mdash;pure lines, Art Deco, and Asian inspirations. The Armani empire continued to expand: restaurants, hotels, concept stores&mdash;each project an ode to elegance.
His clothes adorned the world&rsquo;s biggest stars: Madonna, Lady Gaga, Leonardo DiCaprio, Cate Blanchett, Julia Roberts, Christian Bale, Laura Pausini, and Tom Cruise. They all called him &ldquo;Giorgio.&rdquo; Not out of casual familiarity, but because he was one of those rare figures who commanded respect through simplicity.
His influence extended far beyond the runway. Armani was a builder, a visionary, an ambassador of Made in Italy. He received the highest honors&mdash;the Legion of Honor, recognition from the Guggenheim, an honorary fellowship at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York&mdash;yet he never strayed from his vision: to pursue beauty with humility, never succumbing to frivolity.

Getty Images.

Today, the fashion world mourns a master. But Giorgio Armani's legacy remains. It lives on in every flowing jacket, in every free-spirited silhouette, in every look that seeks elegance rather than appearances.
Farewell, Giorgio. Your style will live on as you always intended: discreet, impeccable, eternal.

Giorgio Armani Dies at 91: A Farewell to the Master of Italian Elegance

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