By Dr John Potvin – the creator of the e book Giorgio Armani: Empire of the Senses and curator of the Instagram account @myarmaniarchive.

A jacket will be very sensual if it has sure traits. 

Possibly a wider shoulder, a sure size, 

a fitted waist, or no waist in any respect. 

Giorgio Armani 

I need to confess to feeling somewhat at a loss to summarise the legacy that Giorgio Armani has left behind in menswear and tailoring, when his vital contributions are so many. In spite of everything, what different designer is accountable for the creation of a completely new color, such because the now iconic greige (gray and beige mixed)? The daunting process is equally as a result of truth I lengthy believed him to be immortal. 

Mr Armani is accountable for taking the stuffing out of males’s jackets, offering us with a garment appropriate for contemporary life, no matter physique kind; a jacket that strikes with the physique not solely due to the minimize however due to the generosity of the textiles.

His menswear sits very comfortably between Italian and British tailoring traditions, whereas heeding the extra fashion-conscious wants of a forward-leaning man. 

The perennial success of his collections resides on the intersection of minimize and silhouette as a lot as color and textile innovation. Too usually missed, Mr Armani was masterfully adept at textile improvement, whereas creating luxurious materials that made the wearer’s pores and skin really feel luxuriously cared for.

An alchemist of types, he honoured long-respected craft traditions whereas recognising the requirements of business manufacturing. This balancing act had its roots within the now well-rehearsed origin story when he labored for Nino Cerruti (1930-2022), first within the textile factories and finally as designer for the household enterprise’s Hitman menswear assortment. 

Textile know-how thus got here properly earlier than he took the stiffness out of males’s jackets. He famously created a silhouette with bolder shoulders, looser all through the physique, with a low gorge paired with a narrower lapel. 

All through the Eighties and 90s, the dimensions of the lapels shifted repeatedly, a lot in order that, by the 1990 to 1994 seasons, they usually disappeared altogether, and took inspiration from sartorial traditions from around the globe (under, from my very own assortment). 

As lapels vanished, buttons elevated and so too did the size of the jackets. Though the identical interval witnessed fixed innovation and improvement in menswear, it was additionally a time when the designer totally solidified his aesthetic and design ethos; because of this, it’s the interval to which many return after they communicate of the ‘Armani fashion’.

To put on Armani instructed one had arrived. It was a strong, sartorial signal of self-assurance and private achievement unburdened by pedigree, class affiliation or schooling. Shopping for an Armani jacket was a ceremony of passage. 

On the similar time an Armani jacket eschewed flashy statements or loud self-promotion. It embodied a quiet, non-public and but seemingly indulgent luxurious for the self. Jackets and fits have been meant to boost somewhat than subsume the wearer’s persona. 

However there was additionally one other revolutionary aspect to his jackets, for Mr Armani used textiles often destined for womenswear. Wool crepe, linen blended with acetate, rag-effect Indian cotton, jacquards and viscose, for instance, rapidly turned staples. Already within the early 80s, his English tweeds felt like pyjamas; not a glance or really feel males have been used to. 

In consequence, males got a softer, extra susceptible look all of the whereas remaining confident and answerable for their presence. He by no means shied away from permitting males to show their extra female facet, sending fashions down the runway in brightly colored sarongs coupled with unlined ties for his spring 1995 assortment, for instance. 

In distinction the next yr, Mr Armani inaugurated Giorgio Armani Classico, a part of his ‘black label’ mainline. The now-defunct, extra sober capsule assortment focused critical businessmen, financiers and professionals and featured pinstripes, Prince of Wale checks and houndstooth prominently. By means of the gathering he supplied conservative, timeless tailor-made items as wardrobe staples. 

Acutely aware of providing a range of seems that each one seamlessly match inside the Armani man’s wardrobe, his Autumn/Winter 1990 assortment, titled ‘Tutti Gli Uomomini Armani’ (All Males) showcased three totally different Armani sorts. 

The primary, ‘The Traditionalist’, wedded conventional tailoring with conventional menswear materials in impartial tones of navy, gray and putty, whereas ‘The Skilled’ moved away from double-breasted fits into three-button single-breasted examples in camel and different equally wealthy and opulent textiles. Lastly, ‘The Avant-garde Man’ celebrated his bohemian perspective with scarf vcollars on double-breasted fits in velvet, corduroy, chenille and wool bouclé. 

This man confirmed the foundations with one a part of the gathering, then broke it with one other.

By subtracting somewhat than including, Mr Armani all through supplied a jacket that felt as if it had already been lived in, as if it had already been hanging in a person’s closet for a while. With each subsequent yr, significantly within the early 90s his jackets, devoid of any of the shoulder padding of the 80s, moulded across the shoulder, delicate, seamless and contoured.

He created a piece uniform that was directly respectfully formal and impeccably tailor-made, whereas on the similar time so easy that it made dressing for work a straightforward and pleasurable endeavour. 

American Gigolo (1980, above), that includes a really alluring Ricard Gere within the lead function, occupies a prime rung inside the pantheon of trend movies. Nevertheless, it marks solely one of many over 100 collaboration credit to Mr Armani’s identify. 

On the coronary heart of the movie’s significance was the way it set the stage for a tailoring and menswear aesthetic programme premised on offering a seductive high quality to chop and textiles; they have been meant to boost a newly match and wholesome physique beneath, spurred on by the nascent health club craze. 

In brief, Mr Armani welcomed males to have a good time their our bodies by means of seductive sartorial selections somewhat than concealing them in inflexible, stiff and unflattering fits. 

Paul Shrader’s 1980 cult basic is not at all the one vital movie of the last decade wherein the designer flexed his sartorial would possibly. In 1987, he was invited to create the wardrobe for many of the characters in Brian De Palma’s The Untouchables (above). 

Lush suede jackets paired with wool flannel trousers or crisp, fluid three-piece linen fits have been as a lot comfy in Thirties gangster-ridden Chicago conjured within the movie as they have been within the late Eighties after they have been designed, and whose doppelgängers have been made accessible in Giorgio Armani boutiques around the globe. 

Mr Armani as soon as stated: “I wish to create clothes for individuals who work, and that features actors and actresses, inasmuch as they’re individuals who work, and never simply as stars.” By means of cinema, ‘Armani’ rapidly turned a family identify. 

As a long-time collector, scholar and fan, it has change into almost unimaginable for me to take a look at a jacket and never both evaluate it to an Armani or see how it’s influenced by him. 

In our present obsession with classic and nostalgia, Mr Armani’s evergreen designs from the 80s and 90s, particularly, have been experiencing a deep resurgence of curiosity. Youthful generations searching for out Armani clearly perceive his consideration to element, high quality materials and timeless design. 

Not too long ago, Mr Armani’s legacy and affect has additionally been evidenced on the runways and was celebrated by Japanese designer Soshi Otsuki, the recipient of the 2025 LVMH Prize (under). 

Designed with a Japanese twist, Otsuki’s menswear is a respectful and modernised homage to 80s and 90s Giorgio Armani, obvious within the louche and full proportions, greige palette and even the color and font selection of his label. 

With the passing of Mr Armani on 4 September 2025, in the identical yr the corporate celebrates its fiftieth anniversary, collectors and customers alike could take solace within the information that he has put in place a robust menswear design group headed by the proficient Pantello (Leo) dell’Orco who’s now charged with the Herculean process of carrying on a label steeped in heritage and excellence.  

Dr John Potvin is Professor at Concordia College, a design historian and creator of the e book Giorgio Armani: Empire of the Senses (Ashgate/Routledge, 2012) and curator of the Instagram account @myarmaniarchive.

For an summary of Armani’s affect, together with on trendy menswear manufacturers, see Tony Sylvester’s article on Permanent Style here. For a really in-depth have a look at The Untouchables, see additionally the ‘A Little Bit of Rest’ article here.