Obituary: Italian Fashion King Giorgio Armani Revolutionised Menswear

It all began with the jacket. Giorgio Armani twisted and bruised the angular piece of clothing — tearing out the padding, adjusting the proportions, moving the buttons — until he was left with something supple as a cardigan, light as a shirt.

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ROME — It all began with the jacket. Giorgio Armani twisted and bruised the angular piece of clothing — tearing out the padding, adjusting the proportions, moving the buttons — until he was left with something supple as a cardigan, light as a shirt.

“Removing all rigidity from the garment and discovering an unexpected naturalness,” as he put it years later. “It was the starting point for everything that came after.”

His 1970s reimagining of the jacket — a study in nonchalance — was to be his statement of purpose as a fashion designer.

Known to industry admirers as “Re Giorgio” — King Giorgio — Armani became synonymous with Italian style, helping to dress a generation of successful women, as well as men who wanted less stuffy attire.

He combined the flair of the designer with the forensic attention to detail of the executive, running a business that generated billions of dollars in revenue each year and helping to make contemporary Italian fashion into a global phenomenon.

Despite being one of the world’s top designers, he guarded his own privacy and kept a tight grip on the company he created, maintaining its independence and working with a small group of family members and long-term associates.