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 The name of
Italian designer Giorgio Armani is synonymous with sophisticated and elegant
fashion. In addition to apparel his spectacularly successful business empire
includes lines of jewelry, cosmetics, fragrances, and eyewear, among other
products. He also is the president of Milan basketball team. He is
distinguished too for constructing a mansion on the Carribean island of Antigua.
Most importantly, he was among the first fashion designers to ban models with
body mass index under 18. Amongst other titles Armani got, Forbes also picked
him twice as the most successful Italian designer in 2001 and in 2006. The
following year, he was appointed as a Goodwill Ambassador for the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. In 2005, he was named the Best Dressed
Environmentalist. However, Giorgio Armani wouldn‘t have the tenth fraction of
this success, if it hadn‘t been for that one special person who made it all
happen.
This one
special person is Sergio Galeotti, Italian architect who has been by
Armani's
side for nearly twenty years and encouraged him to start designing on
his own
and establish his own company that is today a grand fashion empire, the
most
successful Italian fashion brand.
Love Story
Giorgio
Armani met Sergio Galeotti in 1966: 32-year-old designer and young
architectural draftsman, eleven years Armani's junior, met under the hot
Forte
dei Marmi sun. Their affair progressed rapidly, despite their age
difference:
soon Galeotti left his family and career and moved to Milan to be by his
lover's side. Galeotti had immense confidence in Armani's talent and
urged him
to produce his own collection instead of designing for others. In 1975
the pair
founded Giorgio Armani SpA with an initial investment of approximately
ten
thousand dollars, part of it derived from the sale of their Volkswagen.
At first,
the company was making menswear, then launched a line of women's clothes
focused on recutting the traditional men's suit jacket.
At first
some fashion critics found Armani's designs and palette of mainly
neutral
colors - especially beiges and greys - too understated and asexual, but
customers responded enthusiastically to the subtle elegance of his
clothing.
Armani and
Galeotti were soon able to expand their enterprises, launching the chain
of
Emporio Armani stores to sell ready-to-wear lines and to bring in
younger
customers. They also diversified into other product areas such as
fragrances,
which were added in 1982.
However,
this love story does not have a happily ever after: in 1984 Galeotti was
diagnosed with AIDS and died a year later at the age of forty. There was
widespread speculation within the industry that Armani would choose the
moment
to retire - as he could well afford to do because of the great success
of the
business.
In Memory
of Sergio
An
intensely private person, Armani generally reveals little about his
personal
life. In a 2000, however, he spoke at length about his relationship with
Galeotti. Armani stated, «He helped me believe in my own work, in my
energy».
He acknowledged that he considered retirement after Galeotti's death but
decided instead to persevere rather than abandoning «all the hopes of
Sergio».
«It is he
who gives me the strength even now to continue», declared Armani, who
added
that Galeotti «is always there» in the home that they shared. Tangible
reminders include photographs of Galeotti that adorn the bedrooms of all
of
Armani's residences.
Since 1999 Armani
has received offers from LVMH (Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy) and Gucci to
form
joint partnerships in which Armani would retain creative control of his
fashion
line but cede the business operation. This side of the business is also
intensely personal to Armani, however, since taking up the role formerly
played
by Galeotti helped him get over his partner's death. Armani has resisted
all
offers from other companies.
After the
loss of Galeotti, Armani not only continued to work but guided his
privately-owned company to phenomenal success. The enterprise, now known
as the
Giorgio Armani Group, had a global value of some four billion dollars in
2003.
Armani
retail stores can indeed be found worldwide. There were already over two
hundred of them in more than thirty countries when Armani announced
plans in
2004 to enter the Chinese market by opening some thirty facilities there
within
five years.
Armani is
known as a tireless worker who diligently oversees every detail of his
operation, from small adjustments in the design of a single garment to
international financial deals. So intimately has he been involved in
every
phase of the business that in recent years industry observers have been
speculating on whether the Armani empire can survive without Armani
himself.
In a 2001
interview Armani was asked about the greatest failure of his career and
replied
that it was not being able to stop my partner from dying.
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