To look better dressed is perhaps one thing that everybody would love to do in this world. This ancient craving in human being led to the creation of big fashion houses. Armani is not just any fashion house that we are discussing now but rather the name which decide the ultimate in any form of fashion. Before we start the journey into this up-class world of fashion wear and fashion accessories let’s have a glimpse of the Armani world. Armani is the world second largest selling designer selling approximately two billion dollar retail per year in over hundred countries. The brand under its shade make ready to wear labels, cosmetics and perfumes, a home collection and most recently an Armani bicycle. Armani, now an empire in the world of fashion is created by a modest boy Georgio Armani who was perhaps destined to make these wonders. Born on 11th July 1934 in Piacenza, Italy, Armani was first trained in medicine but the creativity in him soon made him to leave it and pursue photography. But soon he was called for the national services in 1957.

Back home after a short term he started working in a departmental store La Renascente as a window dresser. But it was his works in a leading fashion house from 1961 to 1970 as a designer that shaped the dreams inside him and made him the champion of the race.

To talk about a bit of his childhood days he was born and grown up in the fascist Mussolini’s dictatorship era. An era of complete fear and distrust among people around you. His father was an accountant in a transport company and mother, an housewife with a bit of strictness in her nature. His first career choice was to a doctor as he joined the University of Piacenza to study medicine which was soon interrupted by two years of compulsory military training. After this he never returned to medicine. At the age of 25 he left his house for the search of doing something creative. Back to the departmental store where he worked, Armani was spotted by Nino Cerruti in the year 1961 and was hired as a designer for his new menswear line, Hitman. He went freelancing in 1970 and started his brand in 1974 after holding the first show in his name. This was after he met Sergio Galeotti who inspired him a lot in his work. Soon the business started blooming and Armani established an office in Hollywood to attract the celebrities and actors. This move of him helped him a lot as the international fame he got first started with the clothing’s of Richard Gere in 1980 for the film American Gigolo. In 1985 Armani came up with the mid range Emporio Armani but by this time Galeotti was terminally ill and soon after his death Armani had nothing but to work harder to fulfill the dreams that they saw together. The passion to create new and different was the only reason to work.

Armani house has certainly grown up to a proportion that needs to be saluted. From just a sale of $ 14000 in its first year of opening in the year 1975 it is now a $ 2 billion. The company manages some 305 shops in 35 countries with its five miraculous brands catering age groups from 18 to 60. The five brands that casts the spell in the fashion world are the Giorgio Armani, an ultra expensive couture line most normally seen on movie stars, Armani Collezioni, a chic ready to wear line specializing in hand made sweaters and sexy, slim fitting suits, Emporio Armani, a sportswear line and Armani Exchange, an affordable mass market version of the seasons hottest trends. Added to these are the Armani Occhiali, the eye wear line, the ski wear line and the latest Armani Neve line in 1996 for winter sportswear. The company now is also diversifying into household goods with Armani casa line. And to much of our amazement he has signed a contract with a Dubai company to create 14 branded Armani hotels.

The interesting part of the Armani collection is that the entire company is identified with one individual. Perhaps this was required for the betterment of the company as clients are devoted to the five brands and they come back every season. In 1999 however he completely changed the management team and brought executive from other fashion houses for a more commercial approach. As far as the succession of his empire is concerned, so far at 85 Armani is still not ready to name one as he wanted to be free in his controls and creates the wonders in the world of fashion. The three rules that he still use in his signature designs are eliminate the superfluous, emphasize the comfortable and acknowledge the elegance. The man behind the fashion empire is also philanthropic by nature and this was perhaps correctly identified in appointing him as a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in the year 2001. Credits and credentials are not new as he already was the first Italian fashion designer in 1982 to appear on the cover of time magazine and perhaps the second of his kind after Christian Dior in 1940’s. In 2001 he was also declared as the most successful designer in Italy by the Forbes magazine. Following this in 2006 he designed the outfits worn by participants bringing in the Italian flag at the winter Olympic opening ceremony in Italy. Today Armani’s talent is shown in the English and Italian soccer teams and Alitalia flight attendants. Hollywood stars like Jodie Foster, Michelle Pfeiffer, Richard Gere, Goldie Hawn and Sharon Stone are some of the fans of his designs.

A man who makes the world beautiful with his creations and who has that passion of creating new unconventional designs to mark up the elegance can definitely be one of the rarest talents of the mankind.