Giorgio Armani

Born and raised in northern Italy, Giorgio Armani came from humble beginnings. Originally, Armani set out to become a doctor, but after military service that required him to work in a military hospital, he decided that a career in medicine was not for him. Armani's first job in the world of fashion was as a window dresser in La Rinascente, a Milan-based department store for whom Armani eventually became a fashion buyer. Working primarily as a buyer in the menswear department, Armani acquired his first taste for true fashion and in the mid-1960s, he became a designer for Nino Cerruti.

Armani spent most of the 1970s establishing his own label after years of freelancing for different fashion houses like Allegri, Tendresse, and Montedoro. In 1975, Armani charged into the fashion world designing under his own label and by 1980, he had a well-established clothing line that touched on womenswear but focused primarily on menswear. He quickly established a signature style, emphasizing the importance of clean lines and razor sharp edges with the philosophy that designing practical clothing for "real people" was important to success.

A business agreement with L'Oreal in 1982 allowed Armani to create new ventures, namely a ground-breaking perfume line. Shortly thereafter, clothing lines for different demographics began to emerge, including ready-to-wear lines from Armani Junior and Emporio Armani. Additional licensing agreements throughout the decade allowed him to create lines of eyeglasses, gift collections, and even designer socks.

In the mid-1980s, Armani branched out and began engaging unconventional advertising methods, renting gigantic billboards for his company's advertisements and commissioning television spots for promotional purposes. Armani saw the importance in engaging the media and he proved it in 1987 when he designed the costumes for The Untouchables. Prior to the film's release, Armani had designed costumes for more than 100 films, but The Untouchables was by far the most prominent and most important of his cinematic costume ventures.

At the very least, Giorgio Armani emerged in the 1980s as a shrewd businessman who understood the importance of practicality when designing luxury clothing and accessories. However, he also proved himself as a fierce competitor in the world of fashion, standing heads above the competition with his clean lines and various looks. Through all his ventures, Armani never once lost sight of his target audiences, making him not only a pioneer of his time but also an artist with an eye for timeless beauty.