By Dr John Potvin – the author of the book Giorgio Armani: Empire of the Senses and curator of the Instagram account @myarmaniarchive.
A jacket can be very sensual if it has certain characteristics.
Maybe a wider shoulder, a certain length,
a fitted waist, or no waist at all.
Giorgio Armani
I must confess to feeling rather at a loss to summarise the legacy that Giorgio Armani has left behind in menswear and tailoring, when his significant contributions are so many. After all, what other designer is responsible for the creation of an entirely new colour, such as the now iconic greige (grey and beige combined)? The daunting task is equally due to the fact I long believed him to be immortal.
Mr Armani is responsible for taking the stuffing out of men’s jackets, providing us with a garment suitable for modern life, regardless of body type; a jacket that moves with the body not only because of the cut but because of the generosity of the textiles.
His menswear sits very comfortably between Italian and British tailoring traditions, while heeding the more fashion-conscious needs of a forward-leaning man.
The perennial success of his collections resides at the intersection of cut and silhouette as much as colour and textile innovation. Too often overlooked, Mr Armani was masterfully adept at textile development, while creating sumptuous fabrics that made the wearer’s skin feel luxuriously cared for.
An alchemist of sorts, he honoured long-respected craft traditions while recognising the necessities of industrial production. This balancing act had its roots in the now well-rehearsed origin story when he worked for Nino Cerruti (1930-2022), first in the textile factories and eventually as designer for the family business’s Hitman menswear collection.
Textile know-how thus came well before he took the stiffness out of men’s jackets. He famously created a silhouette with bolder shoulders, looser throughout the body, with a low gorge paired with a narrower lapel.
Throughout the 1980s and 90s, the size of the lapels shifted continuously, so much so that, by the 1990 to 1994 seasons, they often disappeared altogether, and took inspiration from sartorial traditions from around the world (below, from my own collection).
As lapels vanished, buttons increased and so too did the length of the jackets. Although the same period witnessed constant innovation and development in menswear, it was also a time when the designer fully solidified his aesthetic and design ethos; as a result, it is the period to which many return when they speak of the ‘Armani style’.
To wear Armani suggested one had arrived. It was a powerful, sartorial sign of self-assurance and personal achievement unburdened by pedigree, class affiliation or education. Buying an Armani jacket was a rite of passage.
At the same time an Armani jacket eschewed flashy statements or loud self-promotion. It embodied a quiet, private and yet seemingly indulgent luxury for the self. Jackets and suits were meant to enhance rather than subsume the wearer’s personality.
But there was also another revolutionary element to his jackets, for Mr Armani used textiles usually destined for womenswear. Wool crepe, linen blended with acetate, rag-effect Indian cotton, jacquards and viscose, for example, quickly became staples. Already in the early 80s, his English tweeds felt like pyjamas; not a look or feel men were used to.
As a result, men were given a softer, more vulnerable appearance all the while remaining self-assured and in command of their presence. He never shied away from allowing men to expose their more feminine side, sending models down the runway in brightly coloured sarongs coupled with unlined ties for his spring 1995 collection, for example.
In contrast the following year, Mr Armani inaugurated Giorgio Armani Classico, part of his ‘black label’ mainline. The now-defunct, more sober capsule collection targeted serious businessmen, financiers and professionals and featured pinstripes, Prince of Wale checks and houndstooth prominently. Through the collection he offered conservative, timeless tailored pieces as wardrobe staples.
Conscious of offering a diversity of looks that all seamlessly fit within the Armani man’s wardrobe, his Autumn/Winter 1990 collection, titled ‘Tutti Gli Uomomini Armani’ (All Men) showcased three different Armani types.
The first, ‘The Traditionalist’, wedded traditional tailoring with traditional menswear fabrics in neutral tones of navy, grey and putty, while ‘The Professional’ moved away from double-breasted suits into three-button single-breasted examples in camel and other equally rich and luxurious textiles. Finally, ‘The Avant-garde Man’ celebrated his bohemian attitude with shawl vcollars on double-breasted suits in velvet, corduroy, chenille and wool bouclé.
This man showed the rules with one part of the collection, then broke it with another.
By subtracting rather than adding, Mr Armani throughout offered a jacket that felt as though it had already been lived in, as if it had already been hanging in a man’s closet for some time. With every subsequent year, particularly in the early 90s his jackets, devoid of any of the shoulder padding of the 80s, moulded around the shoulder, soft, seamless and contoured.
He created a work uniform that was at once respectfully formal and impeccably tailored, while at the same time so effortless that it made dressing for work an easy and pleasurable endeavour.
American Gigolo (1980, above), featuring a very alluring Ricard Gere in the lead role, occupies a top rung within the pantheon of fashion films. However, it marks only one of the over 100 collaboration credits to Mr Armani’s name.
At the heart of the film’s significance was how it set the stage for a tailoring and menswear aesthetic programme premised on providing a seductive quality to cut and textiles; they were meant to enhance a newly fit and healthy body underneath, spurred on by the nascent gym craze.
In short, Mr Armani welcomed men to celebrate their bodies through seductive sartorial choices rather than concealing them in rigid, stiff and unflattering suits.
Paul Shrader’s 1980 cult classic is by no means the only significant film of the decade in which the designer flexed his sartorial might. In 1987, he was invited to create the wardrobe for most 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 suits were as much at ease in 1930s gangster-ridden Chicago conjured in the film as they were in the late 1980s when they were designed, and whose doppelgängers were made available in Giorgio Armani boutiques around the world.
Mr Armani once said: “I like to create clothing for people who work, and that includes actors and actresses, inasmuch as they are people who work, and not just as stars.” Through cinema, ‘Armani’ quickly became a household name.
As a long-time collector, scholar and fan, it has become nearly impossible for me to look at a jacket and not either compare it to an Armani or see how it is influenced by him.
In our current obsession with vintage and nostalgia, Mr Armani’s evergreen designs from the 80s and 90s, in particular, have been experiencing a deep resurgence of interest. Younger generations seeking out Armani clearly understand his attention to detail, quality fabrics and timeless design.
Recently, Mr Armani’s legacy and influence has also been evidenced on the runways and was celebrated by Japanese designer Soshi Otsuki, the recipient of the 2025 LVMH Prize (below).
Designed with a Japanese twist, Otsuki’s menswear is a respectful and modernised homage to 80s and 90s Giorgio Armani, apparent in the louche and full proportions, greige palette and even the colour and font choice of his label.
With the passing of Mr Armani on 4 September 2025, in the same year the company celebrates its 50th anniversary, collectors and consumers alike may take solace in the knowledge that he has put in place a strong menswear design team headed by the talented Pantello (Leo) dell’Orco who is now charged with the Herculean task of carrying on a label steeped in heritage and excellence.
Dr John Potvin is Professor at Concordia University, a design historian and author of the book Giorgio Armani: Empire of the Senses (Ashgate/Routledge, 2012) and curator of the Instagram account @myarmaniarchive.
For an overview of Armani’s influence, including on modern menswear brands, see Tony Sylvester’s article on Permanent Style here. For a very in-depth look at The Untouchables, see also the ‘A Little Bit of Rest’ article here.
