The Fashion World Mourns, As Giorgio Armani Takes Final Bow

Giorgio Armani, the man whom Italy lent to the fashion and style world, and who succeeded in taking dressing beyond borders, has taken a final bow. He was aged 91.

For decades, the fashion world had revolved around him, his brand very well sought after from coast to coast.

But that was after he summoned courage and pulled out from Nino Cerruti – an influential haute couture designer in 1975 to form his own company, Armani.

A man associated with difficulty growing up, he braved the challenges to set him up and created designs that stunned the world.

He began to expand his entrepreneurial scope, adding hospitality, music and sport into his bouquet of brands.

Giorgio Armani eventually became the ultimate fashion brand of his native Italy, and later the other Europe.

He is believed to have introduced fluidity and flare in fashion, popularised suit wears, and invented the red carpet.

Here are 12 key facts to know about Giorgio Armani

1. He was born on 11 July 1934 in Piacenza, a town in the northern part of Italy.
2. Growing up was difficult became he came from a middle class family, which had experienced the war and was finding it difficult to feed.
3. Giorgio Armani was born to Ugo Armani, an accountant for a transport company, and Maria Raimondi, and had a younger sister Rosanna, and an older brother, Sergio.
4. Though he was to make a fortune in fashion, but that was not his earlier passion; medicine was.
5. He was a university drop-out, opting instead to enlist with the Army

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6. He became a window dresser in 1957, after serving in the military for two years and as a sales clerk at La Rinascente, a department store in Milan.
7. His major break was his In 1979, after he floated the Giorgio Armani Corporation, winning major deals with the United States.
8. Armani, at youth experienced a narrow escape from death after an unexploded shell he was playing with went off, killing a close friend and leaving him with severe burns.

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9. He learned what fabrics the customers liked, and went to the textile mills to buy them. He became an expert in how the cloth was constructed, and used his knowledge to perfect the tailoring.
10. Giorgio Armani helped liberate women with customised suits, as against the traditional feminine stuffs.
11. With Armani’s elegantly tailored power suits, women were offered an alternative to the stiff and stuffy designs.
12. His franchises included trendy glasses, trademark sportswears, cosmetics and accessories.