From: mongo@biteme.com   
      
   https://apnews.com/article/italy-obit-giorgio-armani-   
   bb4b91756214c456fd5db14216a91b75   
      
   Giorgio Armani, who dressed the powerful and famous from boardroom to   
   Hollywood, dies at 91   
      
   By  COLLEEN BARRY and DANIELA PETROFF   
   Updated 1:59 PM EDT, September 4, 2025   
      
   MILAN (AP) — Giorgio Armani, the iconic Italian designer who turned the   
   concept of understated elegance into a multibillion-dollar fashion empire,   
   died Thursday, his fashion house confirmed. He was 91.   
      
   Armani died at home, “peacefully, surrounded by his loved ones,” the   
   fashion house said. “Indefatigable to the end, he worked until his final   
   days, dedicating himself to the company, the collections and the many   
   ongoing and future projects.”   
      
   Armani, one of the most recognizable names and faces in the global fashion   
   industry, 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.   
      
   A public viewing will be held in the Armani Theater where he unveiled his   
   ready-to-wear collections on Saturday and Sunday. The funeral will be held   
   privately, and no details were released.   
      
      
   Condolences and remembrances poured in from political leaders and other   
   Milan fashion designers.   
      
   “The world lost a giant today. He made history and will be remembered   
   forever,” said Donatella Versace, whose late brother Gianni Versace was a   
   stylistic rival of Armani in the 1990s.   
      
   Julia Roberts, who memorably wore an oversized Armani suit to the 1990   
   Golden Globes, posted a photo of the pair together with the text: “A true   
   friend. A Legend,” followed by a broken heart emoji.   
      
   Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, who often dressed in Armani’s business   
   attire, remembered the designer for his ”elegance, sobriety and   
   creativity,” and said he was “a symbol of the best Italy.”   
      
   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 recognizable 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 supersoft 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 put together an empire worth over $10   
   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, 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 the   
   trademark dark trousers 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 worth over $10 billion. 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   
   dreamed 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   
   $10,000 to start up 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 look with delicate detailing,   
   luxurious fabrics and brighter shades for his basic beige and gray   
   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 favorite heartthrob, and “Geeorgeeo” as they called him,   
   the   
   glam set’s most popular designer.   
      
   The Hollywood connection earned him wardrobe film credits in over 200   
   films, and in 2003 a place on Rodeo Drive’s “Walk of Style.”   
      
   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 latest Prive couture collection.   
      
   Other longtime devotees included Jodie Foster, George Clooney, Sophia   
   Loren and Brad Pitt. David and Victoria Beckham were the “face” 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.   
      
   Marking the Giorgio Armani fashion house’s 40th anniversary, he opened his   
   own museum in Milan, called Armani Silos, located opposite his Armani   
   Theater. For its 50th, he launched Archivio Armani, a digital archive last   
   month.   
      
      
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