In 1957 Mr. Armani was hired at the Milanese department store la Rinascente and quickly climbed his way up from window dresser to assistant buyer. His sensitivity to fabric led to the pivotal encounter with Mr. Nino Cerruti, who decided to give him a chance as a designer. Through another chance encounter in the early Seventies he met Sergio Galeotti, an architect with great entrepreneurial skills, who immediately spotted Armani's talents and persuaded him to open a design office in Milan. Giorgio Armani led the vanguard of a whole new breed of Italian designers with his unique vision, and success ensued fast.
In the early years, it was quite common for Mr. Armani to sketch on a black background, even directly on fabric, with stitched pieces of sample textiles and written instructions on top, but as time went by, the images became more elaborate and less busy. And as the brand grew into forays of beauty, frames, furniture, timepieces, etc. – the sketch has always stayed the centerpiece and go to tool to initiate it all. Ever since the founding of his label in 1975, Mr. Armani has afforded men and women an elegant and sophisticated version of the suit. In fact, one of the first defining moments in Armani history was the launch of an unlined and unconstructed man's jacket. Completely loose and informal, the blazer offered sensual hints of the body beneath, marking a major departure from, on the one hand, the stuffy suits of the straitjacketed men in the 1960s, and, on the other, the sartorial abandon of the hippie generation. The rumpled jacket was an immediate success, and a new breed of tailoring was born. From here to the Armani Empire, it was the blink of an eye. Today Giorgio Armani is a global brand and its eyewear is as diverse as the company itself and offers a wide range of styles, for all ages and tastes.
