Giorgio Armani

Giorgio Armani

Birth : 1934-07-11, Piacenza, Emilia-Romagna, Italy

History

Giorgio Armani 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 $1.6 billion and a personal fortune of $7 billion as of 2012. Born in northern Italy, Armani originally studied medicine at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart before leaving the field of medicine after working in a hospital during his military service. After leaving the military, Armani started in fashion a window dresser at La Rinascente, a department store in Milan before quickly climbing store ranks. In the mid-1960s, Armani moved to the Nino Cerruti company, for which he designed menswear over the next decade  while also freelancing for up to ten manufacturers.  In 1973, he open a design office in Milan, leading to great personal success and networking among Italy’s fashion elite, leading him to found the Giorgio Armani Spa in Milan with his friend Galeotti, and presenting collections under his own name for the first time.   In 1979, after founding the Giorgio Armani Corporation, Armani began producing for the United States, where the label became a leading names in international fashion introduced several new product lines. These successes would lead him to numerous commercial deals with notable fashion and beauty houses, such as L’Oreal.  By the early 90s, Armani expanded his talents to cinema, both for personal and financial reasons.  Designing costumes for more than one hundred films, including American Gigolo and The Untouchables, Armani quickly established himself as a go-to designer for Hollywood.  Armani designed made-to-measure suits for Christian Bale's character Bruce Wayne in The Dark Knight and subsequent “Giorgio Armani for Bruce Wayne” collections in 2008.  His brand continues to succeed in the new century, with recognition for artistic merits, profitable commercial partnerships, and public work such as designing uniforms for Olympic Athletes.

Profile

Giorgio Armani

Movies

Così fan tutte - ROH
Costume Designer
Containing some of the most beautiful arias and attractive ensembles in all opera, Così fan tutte is packed with both pathos and humour. Mozart and Da Ponte's witty, compassionate examination of young love has ensured its lasting popularity. Jonathan Miller’s original 1995 production for Covent Garden is dear to the hearts of London audiences and has been revived numerous times. Necessity, they say, is the mother of all invention. With no money left for costumes, Miller has the genius idea of asking Giorgio Armani to lend a hand... This production is from Sept 2010.
Roxanne Lowit Magic Moments
Himself
The professional life of Roxanne Lowit, one of the greatest fashion photographers and a pioneer of backstage photography, covering her career from 1977 and the Studio 54 until now.
Anna Piaggi: Fashion Visionary
archival footage
The world of fashion, between the end of the Sixties and the beginning of the Noughties, had a key character that embodied its spirit and told the tale: journalist Anna Piaggi, living witness of that contamination between art, society and culture that changed fashion and sanctioned its success on a global scale. The daughter of a manager for La Rinascente (Milan's iconic high-end shopping mall whose foundation goes back to 1865), Karl Lagerfeld's muse, "a poet with her clothes" in the words of Bill Cunningham, her life is retraced through interviews with designers (Jean-Charles de Castelbajac, Stephen Jones, Manolo Blahnik, and more) together with archival images from four decades of fashion history.
Mademoiselle C
Self
A documentary focused on former Vogue Paris editor-in-chief and fashion stylist Carine Roitfeld.
Elysium
Costume Design
In the year 2159, two classes of people exist: the very wealthy who live on a pristine man-made space station called Elysium, and the rest, who live on an overpopulated, ruined Earth. Secretary Rhodes, a hard line government official, will stop at nothing to enforce anti-immigration laws and preserve the luxurious lifestyle of the citizens of Elysium. That doesn’t stop the people of Earth from trying to get in, by any means they can. When unlucky Max is backed into a corner, he agrees to take on a daunting mission that, if successful, will not only save his life, but could bring equality to these polarized worlds.
Scatter My Ashes at Bergdorf's
Self
It's the most mythic of all American emporiums - and the scene of many an ultimate fashion fantasy. Now audiences get a rarified chance to peek behind the backroom doors and into the reality of the fascinating inner workings and fabulous untold stories from Bergdorf Goodman's iconic history in Scatter My Ashes at Bergdorf's.
A Man's Story
Self
Documentary about British fashion designer Ozwald Boateng.
Knight and Day
Thanks
A fugitive couple goes on a glamorous and sometimes deadly adventure where nothing and no one – even themselves – are what they seem. Amid shifting alliances and unexpected betrayals, they race across the globe, with their survival ultimately hinging on the battle of truth vs. trust.
Inglourious Basterds
Costume Design
In Nazi-occupied France during World War II, a group of Jewish-American soldiers known as "The Basterds" are chosen specifically to spread fear throughout the Third Reich by scalping and brutally killing Nazis. The Basterds, lead by Lt. Aldo Raine soon cross paths with a French-Jewish teenage girl who runs a movie theater in Paris which is targeted by the soldiers.
Shrink
Wardrobe Designer
Unable to cope with a recent personal tragedy, LA's top celebrity shrink turns into a pothead with no concern for his appearance and a creeping sense of his inability to help his patients.
Valentino: The Last Emperor
Himself
Film which travels inside the singular world of one of Italy's most famous fashion designers, Valentino Garavani, documenting the colourful and dramatic closing act of his celebrated career and capturing the end of an era in global fashion. However, at the heart of the film is a love story - the unique relationship between Valentino and his business partner and companion of 50 years, Giancarlo Giammetti. Capturing intimate moments in the lives of two of Italy's richest and most famous men, the film lifts the curtain on the final act of a nearly 50-year reign at the top of the glamorous and fiercely competitive world of fashion. (Storyville)
Sophia: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow
Self
Documentary exploring the formidable life and career of Italian film star Sophia Loren. With interviews with the actress herself, as well as thoughts from colleagues and admirers, including Woody Allen.
Confession of Pain
Costume Designer
In a city of love and prosperity, a city of lost hope and premature death, veteran detective Hei feels it all: the hurt, the helplessness, the horror. When his father-in-law, the billionaire benefactor Kim, is gruesomely murdered in his palatial mansion, he enlists the assistance of his former partner turned private detective.
My Voyage to Italy
Executive Producer
World-renowned director Martin Scorsese narrates this journey through his favorites in Italian cinema.
27 Piazza Castello
Nine famous photographers from the world of fashion and the new talents of 1998 tackle the upcoming edition of the prestigious magazine Vogue Italia, in and around the majestic cadre of Castle Square, Piazza Castello, No. 27, Turin, Italy.
Emma
Thanks
Emma Woodhouse is a congenial young lady who delights in meddling in other people’s affairs. She is perpetually trying to unite men and women who are utterly wrong for each other. Despite her interest in romance, Emma is clueless about her own feelings, and her relationship with gentle Mr. Knightly.
Stealing Beauty
Wardrobe Designer
Lucy Harmon, an American teenager is arriving in the lush Tuscan countryside to be sculpted by a family friend who lives in a beautiful villa. Lucy visited there four years earlier and exchanged a kiss with an Italian boy with whom she hopes to become reacquainted.
Catwalk
Self
A documentary following Christy Turlington and other models during spring fashion week in Milan, Paris and New York.
Rising Sun
Wardrobe Designer
When a prostitute is found dead in a Los Angeles skyscraper occupied by a large Japanese corporation, detectives John Connor and Web Smith are called in to investigate. Although Connor has previous experience working in Japan, cultural differences make their progress difficult until a security disc showing the murder turns up. Close scrutiny proves the disc has been doctored, and the detectives realize they're dealing with a cover-up as well.
The Comfort of Strangers
Costume Design
An Italian diplomat's son follows and seduces English lovers in Venice.
Made in Milan
Giorgio Armani
A short documentary film about fashion designer Giorgio Armani; it shows him preparing for a show and discusses his ideas about fashion, his family history and the city of Milan.
Phenomena
Costume Design
A young girl, with an amazing ability to communicate with insects, is transferred to an exclusive Swiss boarding school, where her unusual capability might help solve a string of murders.
American Gigolo
Costume Design
Julian makes a lucrative living as an escort to older women in the Los Angeles area. He begins a relationship with Michelle, a local politician's wife, without expecting any pay. One of his clients is murdered and Detective Sunday begins pumping him for details on his different clients, something he is reluctant to do considering the nature of his work. Julian begins to suspect he's being framed. Meanwhile Michelle begins to fall in love with him.
The Good Thief
Costume Design
Caleb, "son of nobody" (Enrico Montesano) lives in Galilee in Jesus' day and struggles as a thief and con-man, pretending to be a magician. When he witnesses Jesus turning water into wine, he thinks he's found a competitor. So Caleb goes on, convinced that Jesus is a fake just as he is, always trying to figure out his tricks. In the meantime, he gets involved with a prostitute (played by Edwige Fenech), but also with the wife of a Roman patrician (played by the equally alluring Bernadette Lafont), he steals a few goats and cons a few people, he befriends a lovable dog and gets in trouble with some Roman soldiers.