Italian fashion designer Giorgio Armani dies at 91

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00:00The fashion icon, Giorgio Armani, has died at the age of 91. The legendary Italian designer

00:07is considered to have transformed global style with his signature tailored suits and red carpet

00:14elegance. And to talk more about his life and his contribution to fashion, I'm joined now by our

00:19culture editor, Eve Jackson. Eve, you know, everyone's heard of Giorgio Armani. He really

00:27was a fashion icon, wasn't he? He certainly was, Angela. His influence spanned Hollywood,

00:32haute couture and hospitality. He reshaped fashion forever, you might say. He wasn't just a designer,

00:38he was revolutionary. He was born in northern Italy and he originally actually trained in medicine

00:42before he found his calling in fashion and he launched his label in 1975. And what followed

00:48was the building of a global fashion empire. His big break, though, that was Hollywood. He softly

00:54tailored suits in American Gigolo. The film turned Richard Gere into a fashion icon and put Armani

01:01on the map in the United States. And by the 1980s, his power suits, as you will remember,

01:06were a staple in Miami Vice, for example, and Armani became the designer of the decade.

01:12But, you know, he didn't just stop with men's fashion, did he?

01:15No, he didn't. He changed how the red carpet worked. He was the first designer to actively

01:20caught celebrities pioneering what we now know as celebrity dressing. And from Diane Keaton

01:26to Cate Blanchett, Beyonce and Zendaya, they've all worn Armani. And by 1990, so many stars were

01:34in gowns designed by Armani that women's wear daily dubbed the Oscars the Armani Awards.

01:40Now, his empire grew. It included perfumes, hotels, even homeware. But he remained fiercely independent

01:48until the end, owning his company outright and never selling it out to big fashion conglomerates.

01:53Now, he leaves behind not just the brand, but a vision, understated elegance, timeless style,

01:59and a fashion that lets people shine rather than outshining them. Now, he was a master of

02:05minimalism, a red carpet revolutionary, and one of the last greats of fashion's golden generation.

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