Giorgio Armani Biography
When Ugo Armani and Maria Raimondi had their son on July 11 1934 they had no way of telling what lay in his future. Little did they know that their son go on to become a multi-billionaire fashion designer and the first of his kind to come from Italy. Giorgio Armani was born in Piacenza, Emilia-Romagna, Italy and he was raised by his parents along with his two siblings.
Life for the Armani family was humble, they members had enough to live on but there were no luxuries. Still it was a close knit family and a happy one, Armani had supportive parents who encouraged him to go with his dreams. As a college student Armani’s dream was to work in the medical field and so he took on a major in medicine. On completing his education Armani had to undertake a two year compulsory job at the armed forces.
This he did and by chance he was placed in the military hospital, after his tenure Armani has received a wake-up call he had not expected. He quickly forgot the idea of working in the medical field since what he had seen in the two years of service was discouraging enough. Instead he opted for a simpler job in a design shop. Initially Armani was expected to do simple jobs that did not revolve around designing but once he submitted his sketches to the main designer things changed.
Armani was promoted to consultant designer, a role that he also performed for other designers on a freelance basis. Over the next years Armani went on freelance while he saved up for his own design shop, in 1973 his dream came to reality when he signed a partnership deal with Sergio Galeotti. Both had interests in design and the match seemed like a perfect one. In 1975, he expanded to the Giorgio Armani Spa, located in Milan, it was highly successful and critics were full of praise.
He specialised in men’s and women’s clothing of sophistication and which were tailored for the business class. Soon Armani’s operations expanded to Giorgio Armani Underwear and Swimwear, Giorgio Armani boutique, Giorgio Armani Accessories, Armani Junior, and Armani Jeans. He now had stores in major cities in the US and a steady clientele was growing. By the 80’s decade Armani was in high demand to design for movie stars such as those in The Untouchables and American Gigolo. Armani even ventured into sports as he designed for a bull fighter costume on demand by a client.
Most of the clothes in the Armani line were high end and well-tailored so Armani introduced another line that would be casual and fitting for a large base of clientele. This line was Called Armani Exchange and it went on runways in 1991. Since the Armani is known predominantly for his male suits which are suited for the business environment. In addition to his labels selling to numerous stores in the US, Armani has set base in other countries in the world, in 37 to be exact. As of 2010 he was valued at over 7 billion dollars.
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