Giorgio Armani Profiles
The life behind the house — Piacenza, La Rinascente, Cerruti, and July 1975.
Giorgio Armani, born on July 11, 1934, in Piacenza, Italy, is an iconic clothing designer. This profiles page tells his story in order: the department-store job and the Cerruti staff position that trained him, the partnership with Sergio Galeotti that founded his company in July 1975, the American breakthrough of 1980, and the decades of building that followed. Of all the pages in this series, this is the one the others depend on.
The biography searches in the references gather the wider career coverage, and the house's official website — along with the Armani Exchange and Emporio Armani websites — is linked there as well. The collections, runway and news pages in this series file the work the career produced.
Illustrative image created for this guide — an artistic impression, not this designer's own garments.
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La Rinascente, Cerruti and a Partnership
After completing his military service, Armani dropped out of university and went to work at La Rinascente, a famous Milan department store. He then joined the staff of Nino Cerruti as a designer. With the encouragement of his friend Sergio Galeotti, Armani started to do freelance design work for other companies as well — the classic training of postwar Milan, learned on the shop floor and in another house's studio before a label of his own.
Armani and Galeotti became business partners, founding Giorgio Armani S.p.A. in July 1975. The company's first collection, a men's clothing line, debuted that year; Armani launched a women's collection the following year, which received a warm reception. The order of the founding matters to everything filed in this series: menswear first, womenswear a year later, both built on the same softened tailoring.
American Gigolo, the Power Suit and After Galeotti
While his designs were popular in Europe, Armani did not make a big splash in America until 1980. His clothes were worn by actor Richard Gere in the film American Gigolo (1980), which helped generate a lot of interest in Armani; in the 1980s and beyond, wearing Armani became a symbol of success for many business professionals, and men especially sought out the brand's 'power suits', seen frequently on Miami Vice. With demand high, Armani and Galeotti grew the business, opening Armani stores in Milan.
Armani suffered a great personal and professional loss in 1985 when he lost his longtime friend and business partner Galeotti to AIDS. While some thought the business might suffer, Armani showed the world he was just as talented as an executive as he was as a designer. In 2005, Armani debuted his first haute couture line. Read with the collections page, the profile completes its arc: the Piacenza-born store clerk's assistant who softened the suit, dressed a decade's idea of success, and built a house that runs from jeans to couture.
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Common Questions
Who is Giorgio Armani?
Giorgio Armani, born on July 11, 1934, in Piacenza, Italy, is an iconic clothing designer who founded Giorgio Armani S.p.A. with Sergio Galeotti in July 1975.
How did Giorgio Armani start in fashion?
After completing his military service he dropped out of university and went to work at La Rinascente, the famous Milan department store; he then joined the staff of Nino Cerruti as a designer and, encouraged by Sergio Galeotti, began freelance design work for other companies.
What made Giorgio Armani famous in America?
His popularity skyrocketed in America in the 1980s: Richard Gere wore his signature garb in the 1980 film American Gigolo, his men's 'power suits' appeared frequently on the television series Miami Vice, and wearing Armani became a symbol of success.