Giorgio Armani

Giorgio Armani (born 11 July 1934) is an Italian fashion designer, particularly noted for his menswear. He is known today for his clean, tailored lines. He formed his company, Armani, in 1975, and by 2001 was acclaimed as the most successful designer to come out of Italy, with an annual turnover of $1.600 billion, and a personal fortune of $5 billion.

Fashion career

From 1961 to 1970, Armani worked as an assistant designer at a fashion house Nino Cerruti, where he designed menswear "Hitman". In 1970, he left the company to pursue freelance work. He partnered with Sergio Galeotti to establish a menswear label Armani in 1974, and introduced a womenswear line in 1975. His sister Rosanna Armani subsequently joined him. Galeotti died of a heart attack in 1985 at his home in Milan,

Armani achieved his international breakthrough by tailoring for numerous Hollywood names and especially for Richard Gere in the title role of American Gigolo in 1980. In 2001, Forbes named him the most successful Italian designer and estimated his net worth at $1.7 billion. He was given the same award five years later, as the magazine estimated his fortune at $4.1 billion.

Innovations

Armani was the first designer to ban models with a body mass index (BMI) under 18, after model Ana Carolina Reston starved herself to death due to anorexia nervosa.

The Armani Privé spring/summer 2007 fashion show was broadcast via MSN and Cingular cellular phones.

After LG teamed with Prada to introduce the LG Prada phone, Samsung joined Armani to design the Giorgio Armani phone.

Armani designed made-to-measure suits for Christian Bale's character Bruce Wayne in The Dark Knight. Advertisements featuring 'Giorgio Armani for Bruce Wayne' were released in 2008 with pictures of Christian Bale wearing Armani suits.

In sport

Giorgio Armani has a keen interest in sports. He is the president of the Olimpia Milano basketball teamand an A.C. Milan fan, and twice designed suits for the England national football team. He has since designed suits worn by London club Chelsea since August 2007. He designed the Italian flag bearers' outfits at the opening ceremony at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin. Armani also designed and introduced the EA7 range, a brand inspired by Ukrainian footballer Andriy Shevchenko, who at the time played for AC Milan and wore number 7 jersey.

Other businesses

Armani

Giorgio Armani S.P.A. is an Italian fashion company. The company designs and manufactures products in several categories including fashion accessories, apparel, cosmetics, fragrances, home interiors, jewellery, eyewear and watches under several labels including Giorgio Armani, Armani Collezioni, Emporio Armani, Armani Jeans, Armani Junior, Armani Exchange, and Armani Casa. End of year sales for 2005 were $1.69 billion.

Armani is also planning together with Emaar Properties to launch a chain of luxury hotels and resorts in several big cities including Milan, Paris, New York, London, Tokyo, Shanghai and Dubai. The company already operates a range of cafes worldwide, in addition to a bar, restaurant and nightclub.

History

Giorgio Armani and Sergio Galeotti founded the company in Milan in 1975 with capital of $10,000. Armani today employs about 4,700 employees and has 13 factories around the world. It has nearly 300 stores in 36 countries. Recently, the house has begun an haute couture operation, showing in Paris during the Haute Couture fashion week, under the name of Armani Privé. Unlike much of the fashion industry, which is held by massive multi-nationals like LVMH and relies heavily on licensing, Armani is held privately by Giorgio Armani and produces the vast majority of its products in-house.

Lines

Armani Casa

Armani Casa ("Armani Home" in Italian) is the high-end home collection by Armani features furniture, lamps, linens, and dining essentials. The Home Collection is expensively priced. Armani Casa is available at its 40 worldwide boutiques and select Neiman Marcus stores.

Armani Collezioni

Armani Collezioni is a high-end line from fashion designer Giorgio Armani. The line is more expensive than the Armani Exchange and Armani Jeans and Emporio Armani lines but less expensive than the high end ready-to-wear line, Giorgio Armani (sometimes referred to as Armani 'black label') and the haute couture line, Armani Privé. The line is typically aimed at an older customer who does not desire 'trendy' design, but places emphasis on high quality more classic items. It replaced the Giorgio Armani Le Collezioni line. In addition to being sold in freestanding boutiques (which feature the Collezioni line exclusively), it is also sold in high-end department stores such as Harrods, Harvey Nichols, David Jones, Saks 5th Avenue, Bloomingdales and Neiman Marcus.

Armani Cosmetics

The beauty brand by Armani features cosmetics, skin care, perfume, and cologne. It is produced and distributed by the luxury division of L'Oreal, with which Armani has a long-term partnership agreement. It is available at many department stores worldwide and has very few boutiques.

Armani Exchange

Created in 1991, Armani Exchange (often A|X) is geared towards younger customers and features urban style, prêt-à-porter products, especially T-shirts, jeans, polos, and sports coats.

Armani Exchange is the most affordable of all the Armani lines and mainly targets the American market. It is geared toward older teens and young adults with a contemporary fashion style. The line features 73 stores and 8 outlets in the United States and 82 stores internationally. The United Kingdom's first stores opened in Bluewater, Kent, the Metquarter, Liverpool and in the Trafford Centre, Manchester. And in 2007 it opened its biggest store in the Bullring, Birmingham. The brand has expanded to some countries recently. In 2006 a new store was opened in the Morumbi Mall in São Paulo and in 2007, other store was opened in the Antara Fashion Mall in Mexico City, Mexico. More recently in August 2008, new locations opened in the Eaton Center, Yorkdale Mall and Vaughan Mills, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and Kings Plaza in Brooklyn, NY. A store was opened at Pavilion Kuala Lumpur in Kuala Lumpur,Malaysia

The Armani Exchange Presents Tiësto In Search of Sunrise Summer Tour 08 is a partnership tour between Tiësto and Armani Exchange. The purpose of this junction between both is to promote themselves, Armani will offer exclusive apparel to Tiësto and a special limited edition release containing 3 CD's of his In Search of Sunrise 7: Asia compilation which is due June 10. The In Search of Sunrise: North American Summer Tour 2008 is only taking place in North America on May 23 and ending on July 4.

Armani Hotels

Armani and Emaar Properties signed an agreement in 2004, for Emaar Hotels to build and operate at least seven luxury hotels and three vacation resorts under the Armani name. Armani would be responsible for overseeing all aspects the interior design and style of the hotels. One of their famous hotels is located in Dubai.

The bottom 37 floors of the Burj Dubai skyscraper in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, will house the world's first Armani Hotel. Giorgio Armani is also designing the interiors of the 160 Armani Residences, also within the skyscraper, and its specially designed line of products from the Armani Casa home furnishings collection.

The Burj Dubai Armani Residences Road Show toured Milan, London, Jeddah, Moscow and Delhi. The exhibition was designed by Brash Brands winning an International Design Award for its Signs, Exhibits and Point of Purchase (POP) Displays. The London event was housed in the Armani Casa Showroom in New Bond Street.

Armani Jeans

Armani Jeans is a bridge-line collection of denim-related clothing created in 1981 by Giorgio Armani. Unlike Armani's lower-end collection Armani Exchange, Armani Jeans is mainly sold in department stores instead of freestanding stores, although there are fifteen freestanding Armani Jeans stores in the world, in addition to an Armani Jeans Cafe in Milan. Its price line matches Emporio Armani Line, selling over US $1,000 items in the collection. Some Armani Jeans items are sold in Emporio Armani Stores and Armani Jeans stores sell Emporio Armani items in the Asian Market.

In terms of design, the clothing from this line does not feature Giorgio Armani's signature simplicity and often has larger logos than the clothing in any of his other collections. The colours used for Armani Jeans are more diverse than those found in his higher end lines or Armani Exchange, which feature monochromatic colour schemes and focus on cut and material over colour.

There are several Armani Jeans freestanding stores throughout the world, including several in Italy, Dubai, Lebanon, Japan and Spain. The brand is particularly popular in Asia, where it is often sold in Takashimaya department stores.

Armani Junior

This line that features clothing for children. It can be purchased at its 15 worldwide boutiques and select Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue stores.

Armani Privé

Armani's haute couture line made history being the first haute couture Paris fashion show to be streamed live online. The label is strictly made to wear and only available for purchase in selected stores such as Harrods at a high price.

Emporio Armani

Emporio Armani is a more youthful inspired Armani Line that markets for younger adults. The line is the third-least expensive Armani Brand and can be bought at its 13 American boutiques and over 140 worldwide boutiques, making it the largest distributed Armani brand. Products encompassed by this brand include ready-to-wear clothes, sunglasses, perfume, accessories and watches. The line is considered a "bridge line" as it features higher-end products than Armani Exchange or Armani Jeans but is not as expensive as the exclusive Armani Collezioni or Giorgio Armani ('black label') lines. Emporio Armani is sold in freestanding Emporio Armani boutiques, in high-end department stores, and through their online store.

Giorgio Armani

The Armani signature label is the most expensive Armani label and is available in its 75 worldwide boutiques.

Other ventures

Armani also invests in the fine dining industry. Throughout the world, he has 14 Emporio Armani and Armani Jeans cafes. There is also an Armani Bar in Hong Kong and his two new restaurants, NoBu & Prive, are found worldwide. He also has a bookshop (Armani Libri) and a florist (Armani Fiori) under the Armani name and a confectionery company known as Armani Dolci. These smaller brands are mostly sold within larger Armani shops, like the Milan flagship, 31 via Manzoni, and at the Armani/Chater House at 11 Chater Road, Central, Hong Kong.

Fur controversy

In July 2007, Giorgio Armani told Time Magazine that viewing PETA materials “convinced me not to use fur." However, according to PETA, Armani’s Fall 2008 collection included fur coats for babies, floral printed furs, fur-hemmed skirts and fur-trimmed jackets. The animal rights group has contacted celebrities such as Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes and Glenn Close asking that they not wear Armani-designed clothes.