WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.120 You know, usually when we sit down to do one 00:00:02.120 --> 00:00:03.700 of these deep dives, we're looking at something. 00:00:04.099 --> 00:00:07.120 Well, something with defined edges. A company, 00:00:07.240 --> 00:00:10.099 a new technology, maybe a single historical event. 00:00:10.300 --> 00:00:11.880 Right. Something you can sort of put a box around. 00:00:12.000 --> 00:00:16.199 Exactly. But today, today feels different. I 00:00:16.199 --> 00:00:18.160 was watching the footage from Milan this past 00:00:18.160 --> 00:00:22.289 week and it was just... Yeah. You have a EuroLeague 00:00:22.289 --> 00:00:24.829 basketball game, which is normally the loudest, 00:00:24.829 --> 00:00:27.250 most intense place on the planet. And the whole 00:00:27.250 --> 00:00:29.289 arena just goes completely silent. A moment of 00:00:29.289 --> 00:00:32.030 silence. Yeah. And then you see these shops in 00:00:32.030 --> 00:00:34.590 the Quadrilateral de la Moda. I mean, these are 00:00:34.590 --> 00:00:36.549 stores that probably lose thousands of euros 00:00:36.549 --> 00:00:38.829 an hour if they're not open. And they're just 00:00:38.829 --> 00:00:40.310 pulling down their shutters in the middle of 00:00:40.310 --> 00:00:42.770 the afternoon. It felt like the city itself was 00:00:42.770 --> 00:00:45.149 in mourning, not just the industry, but the city. 00:00:45.250 --> 00:00:47.469 It really did. It felt less like a famous CEO 00:00:47.469 --> 00:00:50.340 passed away and more like. I don't know, a head 00:00:50.340 --> 00:00:54.000 of state or a king. Well, in Milan, he kind of 00:00:54.000 --> 00:00:57.479 was. The line gets pretty blurry, but you're 00:00:57.479 --> 00:00:59.659 right to feel that gravity. We are, of course, 00:00:59.679 --> 00:01:02.179 talking about the passing of Giorgio Armani on 00:01:02.179 --> 00:01:05.769 September 4th, 2025. He was 91 years old. And 00:01:05.769 --> 00:01:08.209 that's really the hook for us today. We're not 00:01:08.209 --> 00:01:10.890 just here to read an obituary. We have a stack 00:01:10.890 --> 00:01:13.409 of sources in front of us that is, frankly, a 00:01:13.409 --> 00:01:15.569 little intimidating. It's a big one. We've got 00:01:15.569 --> 00:01:18.129 the official financial reports from Giorgio Armani 00:01:18.129 --> 00:01:21.489 S .P .A. We have biographical records that go 00:01:21.489 --> 00:01:23.870 all the way back to the 1930s. We have these 00:01:23.870 --> 00:01:27.409 incredibly dense articles on textile manufacturing 00:01:27.409 --> 00:01:30.650 agreements from the 70s. Stuff that sounds boring 00:01:30.650 --> 00:01:32.930 but is actually where the whole story is. Right. 00:01:33.109 --> 00:01:35.549 And on top of all that, we have the details of 00:01:35.549 --> 00:01:38.370 his will, which we absolutely have to get into 00:01:38.370 --> 00:01:40.450 later because it is a bombshell. Oh, the will 00:01:40.450 --> 00:01:42.670 is the twist ending. It changes how you look 00:01:42.670 --> 00:01:45.010 at the last 40 years of his entire strategy. 00:01:45.370 --> 00:01:47.370 But the central question I really want to tackle 00:01:47.370 --> 00:01:49.730 today is, I think, a simple one on the surface. 00:01:50.230 --> 00:01:52.590 How does a young man who drops out of medical 00:01:52.590 --> 00:01:55.609 school, a kid who grew up in a war -torn town 00:01:55.609 --> 00:01:58.799 literally dodging unexploded bombs, How does 00:01:58.799 --> 00:02:01.079 that person end up with a net worth of $12 .1 00:02:01.079 --> 00:02:03.819 billion and, more importantly, fundamentally 00:02:03.819 --> 00:02:06.340 change the way our entire species puts clothes 00:02:06.340 --> 00:02:08.699 on for half a century? It's a massive question. 00:02:08.979 --> 00:02:12.099 And I think to even start to answer it, you have 00:02:12.099 --> 00:02:13.979 to sort of forget the fashion part for a minute. 00:02:14.060 --> 00:02:17.039 Forget fashion? That sounds counterintuitive 00:02:17.039 --> 00:02:19.400 for a deep dive on a fashion designer. Just for 00:02:19.400 --> 00:02:22.139 a moment. Because when you dig into these sources, 00:02:22.400 --> 00:02:26.379 you realize Armani wasn't just an artist. I mean, 00:02:26.400 --> 00:02:28.139 yes, of course he was a brilliant artist, but 00:02:28.139 --> 00:02:32.460 that isn't why he won. It's not why he outlasted 00:02:32.460 --> 00:02:34.759 everyone. So why did he? He was an engineer, 00:02:34.879 --> 00:02:37.120 he was a psychologist, and above all else, he 00:02:37.120 --> 00:02:40.020 was a ruthless, calculating businessman. An engineer 00:02:40.020 --> 00:02:43.000 of fabric. Exactly. And an engineer of his own 00:02:43.000 --> 00:02:46.159 empire. He built it brick by brick with a blueprint 00:02:46.159 --> 00:02:48.389 nobody else could see. Well, then let's get into 00:02:48.389 --> 00:02:49.889 that blueprint. We have to start at the beginning. 00:02:50.129 --> 00:02:54.009 Piacenza, Italy, July 11th, 1934. Right. And 00:02:54.009 --> 00:02:55.490 you have to really set the scene here. This is 00:02:55.490 --> 00:02:57.770 not the Italy you see in postcards. This isn't 00:02:57.770 --> 00:03:00.169 Fellini's La Dolce Vita with Vespas in July. 00:03:00.330 --> 00:03:02.849 No, this is Mussolini's Italy. It's pre -war 00:03:02.849 --> 00:03:06.229 tension sliding into absolute mid -war devastation 00:03:06.229 --> 00:03:08.810 and poverty. His family was not wealthy. They 00:03:08.810 --> 00:03:10.810 were just trying to get by. And I was reading 00:03:10.810 --> 00:03:12.889 through their early biography, and there's this 00:03:12.889 --> 00:03:15.490 incredible contrast that just keeps jumping out 00:03:15.490 --> 00:03:18.719 at me. We think of Armani, the brand, as the 00:03:18.719 --> 00:03:22.340 king of griege. Ultimate minimalist, beige, gray, 00:03:22.759 --> 00:03:27.520 calm, controlled. Zen. Everything is soft. Everything 00:03:27.520 --> 00:03:30.139 is quiet. But his childhood was the exact opposite. 00:03:30.340 --> 00:03:33.539 It was loud. It was violent. Incredibly so. Piacenza 00:03:33.539 --> 00:03:35.919 was a strategic target for the Allies. It was 00:03:35.919 --> 00:03:38.120 a transportation hub in the north, so it was 00:03:38.120 --> 00:03:40.759 bombed heavily. And the sources point to one 00:03:40.759 --> 00:03:44.439 specific incident. one childhood trauma that 00:03:44.439 --> 00:03:46.900 I think explains almost everything that comes 00:03:46.900 --> 00:03:49.879 later. The incident with the gunpowder. The unexploded 00:03:49.879 --> 00:03:52.879 artillery shell. So Armani is just a kid, maybe 00:03:52.879 --> 00:03:54.599 seven or eight years old. He's out playing with 00:03:54.599 --> 00:03:56.860 friends in a field or a ditch. Which was just 00:03:56.860 --> 00:03:59.240 a terrifyingly common landscape for kids back 00:03:59.240 --> 00:04:01.280 then. The whole country was littered with the 00:04:01.280 --> 00:04:03.780 debris of war. It was their playground. So they 00:04:03.780 --> 00:04:06.180 find this shell that hadn't detonated. And to 00:04:06.180 --> 00:04:08.259 them, it's a curiosity. It's a toy. They start, 00:04:08.259 --> 00:04:10.180 you know, poking at it, messing with it. Oh, 00:04:10.199 --> 00:04:12.840 no. And the sources say the fuse triggered. It 00:04:12.840 --> 00:04:15.259 exploded. It killed one of his friends instantly 00:04:15.259 --> 00:04:19.470 right there in front of him. And Giordio, he 00:04:19.470 --> 00:04:22.149 was engulfed in the blast. He was burned severely 00:04:22.149 --> 00:04:24.629 all over his body. He ends up in a hospital for 00:04:24.629 --> 00:04:27.189 weeks, right? Just wrapped in gauze. For weeks. 00:04:27.310 --> 00:04:30.089 He described the smell of rubbing alcohol in 00:04:30.089 --> 00:04:33.410 his own burnt skin. And I want you to just pause 00:04:33.410 --> 00:04:35.250 on the psychology of that for a second. It's 00:04:35.250 --> 00:04:38.329 horrifying. You're a child. The world outside 00:04:38.329 --> 00:04:40.850 is literally exploding around you. Your friend 00:04:40.850 --> 00:04:43.970 has just been killed. And now you are trapped, 00:04:44.170 --> 00:04:47.079 immobile, in a hospital bed. hovering between 00:04:47.079 --> 00:04:49.259 life and death yourself. Is that where the famous 00:04:49.259 --> 00:04:51.680 control freak nature comes from? Because you 00:04:51.680 --> 00:04:53.480 read these stories later in his life about him 00:04:53.480 --> 00:04:55.519 personally checking every single light bulb in 00:04:55.519 --> 00:04:58.240 a new store or rearranging the flowers on a table 00:04:58.240 --> 00:05:00.319 right before a fashion show. I think it's 100 00:05:00.319 --> 00:05:03.500 % connected. When you experience that level of 00:05:03.500 --> 00:05:07.720 profound, violent chaos so early, chaos that 00:05:07.720 --> 00:05:10.220 you have zero control over, you often spend the 00:05:10.220 --> 00:05:11.980 rest of your life trying to build a fortress 00:05:11.980 --> 00:05:13.740 against it. You create a world where nothing 00:05:13.740 --> 00:05:16.660 can explode. Where everything is clean. where 00:05:16.660 --> 00:05:19.439 everything is ordered, where every single detail 00:05:19.439 --> 00:05:21.680 is under your direct command. That makes so much 00:05:21.680 --> 00:05:24.939 sense. His whole aesthetic is almost antiseptic, 00:05:24.939 --> 00:05:28.279 but in a beautiful, calming way. It's like a 00:05:28.279 --> 00:05:30.600 shield against the messiness of the world. It's 00:05:30.600 --> 00:05:33.319 an aesthetic of total control. And what's so 00:05:33.319 --> 00:05:35.540 interesting is that this traumatic hospital stay 00:05:35.540 --> 00:05:38.399 didn't scare him away from medicine. It actually 00:05:38.399 --> 00:05:41.160 did the opposite. It sort of seduced him. He 00:05:41.160 --> 00:05:43.339 decided he wanted to be a doctor. He became obsessed 00:05:43.339 --> 00:05:45.459 with it. He went to a top science -focused high 00:05:45.459 --> 00:05:48.779 school, the Licio Scientifico Leonardo da Vinci. 00:05:49.420 --> 00:05:52.240 And the notes mentioned a specific book that 00:05:52.240 --> 00:05:54.939 really triggered this whole ambition for him. 00:05:54.959 --> 00:05:56.819 Did you see that? It was a novel, right? The 00:05:56.819 --> 00:05:59.620 Citadel. Yes, by A .J. Cronin. I have to admit, 00:05:59.720 --> 00:06:01.339 I haven't read it. What's it about? It's not 00:06:01.339 --> 00:06:04.360 a textbook. It's this classic novel about an 00:06:04.360 --> 00:06:07.040 idealistic young doctor who goes to work in a 00:06:07.040 --> 00:06:09.870 poor Welsh mining town. And he's just constantly 00:06:09.870 --> 00:06:11.769 fighting against the bureaucracy, against the 00:06:11.769 --> 00:06:14.230 incompetence of the system, trying to bring science 00:06:14.230 --> 00:06:16.709 and compassion to this dirty, corrupt world. 00:06:16.930 --> 00:06:20.430 So Armani saw himself as that hero, the guy who 00:06:20.430 --> 00:06:22.949 comes in and fixes things, who brings order to 00:06:22.949 --> 00:06:25.509 the chaos. He wanted to be the savior. So he 00:06:25.509 --> 00:06:27.290 enrolls in the University of Milan's medical 00:06:27.290 --> 00:06:29.689 school. And he's serious about it. He does three 00:06:29.689 --> 00:06:31.649 full years. Three years is a long time. That's 00:06:31.649 --> 00:06:34.290 not just a passing fancy. That's anatomy, physiology. 00:06:35.290 --> 00:06:37.449 He would have been dissecting cadavers. He was 00:06:37.449 --> 00:06:40.350 deep into it. He was fully committed. But then 00:06:40.350 --> 00:06:43.410 came the reality check. In 1953, he has to leave 00:06:43.410 --> 00:06:46.069 the university to do his mandatory military service. 00:06:46.269 --> 00:06:48.610 And the army sees his record and says, perfect, 00:06:48.730 --> 00:06:51.089 we know just where to put you. You can work in 00:06:51.089 --> 00:06:53.149 the military hospital in Verona. And I'm guessing 00:06:53.149 --> 00:06:55.889 the Verona military hospital in the early 50s 00:06:55.889 --> 00:06:59.779 wasn't quite... The romantic, heroic struggle 00:06:59.779 --> 00:07:02.040 he'd read about in The Citadel. It was the opposite. 00:07:02.240 --> 00:07:04.699 It was a factory of misery. It was the grime, 00:07:04.699 --> 00:07:07.139 the bureaucracy, the endless paperwork, the hopeless 00:07:07.139 --> 00:07:09.879 cases. It was the smell of sickness without the 00:07:09.879 --> 00:07:12.439 triumph of actually saving people. The sources 00:07:12.439 --> 00:07:15.220 say he just hit a wall. He realized this wasn't 00:07:15.220 --> 00:07:17.879 about heroism. It was about managing decay. He 00:07:17.879 --> 00:07:20.329 wanted to be around beauty and health. Not that. 00:07:20.470 --> 00:07:23.009 So he quits. He just walks away from a medical 00:07:23.009 --> 00:07:25.290 career. He walks away completely. And this is 00:07:25.290 --> 00:07:27.089 the part of his story I find so interesting. 00:07:27.889 --> 00:07:30.149 Because in the Hollywood movie version, this 00:07:30.149 --> 00:07:32.829 is where he has a flash of genius, sketches a 00:07:32.829 --> 00:07:35.290 dress on a napkin, and becomes a star overnight. 00:07:35.589 --> 00:07:37.910 But that is not what happened at all. No. He's 00:07:37.910 --> 00:07:40.569 a dropout. He needs a job. So he ends up at La 00:07:40.569 --> 00:07:43.230 Renaissance. The big, famous department store 00:07:43.230 --> 00:07:45.449 in Milan. The only one that really mattered back 00:07:45.449 --> 00:07:48.470 then. It was an institution. And his first job 00:07:48.470 --> 00:07:51.569 is... A window dresser. And then an assistant 00:07:51.569 --> 00:07:54.990 buyer. A sales clerk. Basically a retail guy. 00:07:55.269 --> 00:07:57.170 And I think for a lot of people, that part of 00:07:57.170 --> 00:08:00.470 the story, that period from 1957 to the mid -60s, 00:08:00.470 --> 00:08:04.149 is just a footnote. But you're saying this is 00:08:04.149 --> 00:08:06.589 where he learns the secret weapon that lets him 00:08:06.589 --> 00:08:08.889 beat everyone else later on? This is the most 00:08:08.889 --> 00:08:11.850 important part of his education. Period. He didn't 00:08:11.850 --> 00:08:14.350 learn how to win in a design studio. He learned 00:08:14.350 --> 00:08:16.910 it on the sales floor. What did he learn? How 00:08:16.910 --> 00:08:19.139 to fold a sweater perfectly. He learned what 00:08:19.139 --> 00:08:22.019 people actually buy. Think about it. Most of 00:08:22.019 --> 00:08:24.540 the great designers, you know, your Yves Saint 00:08:24.540 --> 00:08:27.959 Laurents, your Gallianos, they went to art school. 00:08:28.220 --> 00:08:30.339 They studied color theory and sketching in a 00:08:30.339 --> 00:08:32.740 classroom. They learned to make beautiful abstract 00:08:32.740 --> 00:08:35.419 art. Right, they're in an ivory tower. Armani 00:08:35.419 --> 00:08:37.799 was on the front lines. He was watching a real 00:08:37.799 --> 00:08:41.220 businessman from Milan walk in, look at three 00:08:41.220 --> 00:08:43.860 different jackets. touch the fabric of each one, 00:08:44.000 --> 00:08:46.500 look at the price tag, and then either buy one 00:08:46.500 --> 00:08:49.039 or walk out empty -handed. He was getting raw 00:08:49.039 --> 00:08:52.159 data every single day. A constant feedback loop. 00:08:52.320 --> 00:08:54.539 He was responsible for menswear. He was trying 00:08:54.539 --> 00:08:57.039 to figure out how to sell these bold marameco 00:08:57.039 --> 00:08:59.399 fabrics from Finland to conservative Italian 00:08:59.399 --> 00:09:02.159 men. He was learning marketing and sales psychology 00:09:02.159 --> 00:09:04.759 in real time. He learned that a jacket can be 00:09:04.759 --> 00:09:07.139 a masterpiece, but if the armhole is cut just 00:09:07.139 --> 00:09:09.360 a little too tight, the customer won't buy it. 00:09:09.720 --> 00:09:12.080 If the fabric feels scratchy, he won't buy it. 00:09:12.139 --> 00:09:14.440 That's the practical medical student's knowledge 00:09:14.440 --> 00:09:16.600 of anatomy coming back, but in a totally different 00:09:16.600 --> 00:09:19.519 context. Exactly. He understood comfort. He understood 00:09:19.519 --> 00:09:21.620 that clothes are not just a statement. They are 00:09:21.620 --> 00:09:24.000 a second skin that you have to live in. So he 00:09:24.000 --> 00:09:26.980 spends basically his entire 20s and early 30s 00:09:26.980 --> 00:09:28.940 just grinding it out in retail. He's not some 00:09:28.940 --> 00:09:31.519 boy genius. He's a late bloomer. A total late 00:09:31.519 --> 00:09:33.600 bloomer. He finally makes the jump in the mid 00:09:33.600 --> 00:09:36.559 -60s, goes to work for Nino Cerruti as a menswear 00:09:36.559 --> 00:09:40.289 designer. But even then, he's not satisfied. 00:09:40.509 --> 00:09:43.149 And this is where the Armani machine really starts 00:09:43.149 --> 00:09:46.210 to fire up. The sources list all the companies 00:09:46.210 --> 00:09:48.110 he was freelancing for while holding down the 00:09:48.110 --> 00:09:50.590 full -time job at Cerruti. I saw that list. It's 00:09:50.590 --> 00:09:54.529 absurd. Allegri, Baguda, Hilton, Sikens. Ten 00:09:54.529 --> 00:09:57.409 different manufacturers simultaneously. How is 00:09:57.409 --> 00:09:59.830 that even physically possible? When did he sleep? 00:09:59.970 --> 00:10:02.370 I have no idea. But think about the education 00:10:02.370 --> 00:10:04.990 he's giving himself. He's designing a raincoat 00:10:04.990 --> 00:10:07.110 for Legri, so he's learning about waterproof 00:10:07.110 --> 00:10:09.590 fabrics. Then he's designing a suit for Hilton, 00:10:09.730 --> 00:10:11.990 so he's learning about tailoring. Then a knit 00:10:11.990 --> 00:10:14.850 for Sikens. He's learning the technical capabilities 00:10:14.850 --> 00:10:17.909 and constraints of 10 different factories. He's 00:10:17.909 --> 00:10:19.549 not just designing, he's learning the entire 00:10:19.549 --> 00:10:23.370 supply chain. He's seeing the whole matrix. By 00:10:23.370 --> 00:10:25.129 the time he's ready to launch his own brand, 00:10:25.389 --> 00:10:27.990 he knows more about manufacturing than most of 00:10:27.990 --> 00:10:30.490 the factory owners do. He knows where you can 00:10:30.490 --> 00:10:33.700 cut costs without sacrificing quality. He knows 00:10:33.700 --> 00:10:36.840 which fabrics work best on which machines. He's 00:10:36.840 --> 00:10:39.279 a master of the craft and the commerce. But he's 00:10:39.279 --> 00:10:41.539 still, you know, the guy behind the scenes. He's 00:10:41.539 --> 00:10:44.840 the hired gun. He needs a push, a catalyst. And 00:10:44.840 --> 00:10:46.899 then he meets the catalyst. Yeah. Enter Sergio 00:10:46.899 --> 00:10:49.559 Galeotti. The partner. In every sense of the 00:10:49.559 --> 00:10:53.220 word. They met in the late 1960s. Galeotti wasn't 00:10:53.220 --> 00:10:54.899 in the fashion world at all. He was an architectural 00:10:54.899 --> 00:10:57.360 draftsman. But he had this incredible business 00:10:57.360 --> 00:10:59.740 mind. And he looked at Giorgio and just said, 00:10:59.820 --> 00:11:02.320 what are you doing? You are wasting your talent, 00:11:02.360 --> 00:11:04.600 making all these other people rich. He was the 00:11:04.600 --> 00:11:07.279 ultimate hype man. He was the accelerator. Armani 00:11:07.279 --> 00:11:09.539 was naturally cautious. Remember the bomb? Remember 00:11:09.539 --> 00:11:12.559 the hospital? Yeah. His instinct was always safety, 00:11:12.740 --> 00:11:15.440 control. Freelancing is safe. You get your check, 00:11:15.539 --> 00:11:17.960 you go home. Starting your own business is pure 00:11:17.960 --> 00:11:21.320 risk. Especially in Italy in the 1970s. We should 00:11:21.320 --> 00:11:23.279 probably mention that context. The years of lead. 00:11:23.789 --> 00:11:26.070 Oh, it was a terrible time. The Red Brigades, 00:11:26.070 --> 00:11:28.549 domestic terrorism, political assassinations, 00:11:28.690 --> 00:11:32.190 rampant inflation. It was a chaotic and dangerous 00:11:32.190 --> 00:11:34.809 time to start any business, let alone a luxury 00:11:34.809 --> 00:11:38.029 one. People were actually afraid to display wealth. 00:11:38.230 --> 00:11:40.649 And Gagliotti just pushes him through all that 00:11:40.649 --> 00:11:43.970 fear. He forced him. The story goes he made Armani 00:11:43.970 --> 00:11:47.070 sell his old Volkswagen Beetle just to scrape 00:11:47.070 --> 00:11:49.669 together enough cash to get an office. They sold 00:11:49.669 --> 00:11:52.129 the car to start the company. They sold the car. 00:11:52.559 --> 00:11:54.440 That's how much of a shoestring operation it 00:11:54.440 --> 00:11:57.940 was. And in 1973, they opened this tiny little 00:11:57.940 --> 00:12:01.179 design office at 37 Corso Venezia. Two years 00:12:01.179 --> 00:12:05.480 later, on July 24th, 1975, Giorgio Armani S .P 00:12:05.480 --> 00:12:07.580 .A. is officially born. And almost out of the 00:12:07.580 --> 00:12:10.740 gate, he drops this bomb on the industry. The 00:12:10.740 --> 00:12:12.940 good kind of bomb this time. The unconstructed 00:12:12.940 --> 00:12:15.419 jacket. The weapon of mass reconstruction, you 00:12:15.419 --> 00:12:17.159 could call it. I think for a lot of us listening, 00:12:17.299 --> 00:12:20.059 the phrase unconstructed jacket just sounds like... 00:12:20.320 --> 00:12:22.519 I don't know, a cardigan or maybe just a casual 00:12:22.519 --> 00:12:25.100 blazer. Can you break down why this was such 00:12:25.100 --> 00:12:27.700 a seismic event? Why do the history books all 00:12:27.700 --> 00:12:30.220 fixate on this one garment? Okay, yeah. You have 00:12:30.220 --> 00:12:32.940 to visualize what an average men's suit was like 00:12:32.940 --> 00:12:36.080 in, say, 1974. I'm picturing something very stiff, 00:12:36.259 --> 00:12:39.679 very structured. It was armor. Literally. The 00:12:39.679 --> 00:12:42.059 inside of the chest was built with a heavy canvas 00:12:42.059 --> 00:12:44.299 made of horse hair to make it stand up on its 00:12:44.299 --> 00:12:47.370 own. It had thick, rigid shoulder pads to give 00:12:47.370 --> 00:12:50.470 you this very square, formal silhouette. The 00:12:50.470 --> 00:12:52.509 lining was tight. It gripped your body. When 00:12:52.509 --> 00:12:54.870 you wore a suit, you felt it. You couldn't comfortably 00:12:54.870 --> 00:12:57.110 lift your arms over your head. It sounds like 00:12:57.110 --> 00:12:59.350 a corset for men. That is the perfect analogy. 00:12:59.549 --> 00:13:01.909 It forced the body into an artificial shape. 00:13:02.509 --> 00:13:04.750 And Armani, with his understanding of anatomy, 00:13:04.889 --> 00:13:07.350 looked at this and said, this is absurd. The 00:13:07.350 --> 00:13:09.549 body already has a shape. The fabric should follow 00:13:09.549 --> 00:13:11.850 the body, not the other way around. So what did 00:13:11.850 --> 00:13:14.389 he do technically? What did he remove? He just 00:13:14.389 --> 00:13:16.629 gutted it. He performed surgery on the suit. 00:13:16.750 --> 00:13:19.110 He ripped out the heavy horsehair canvas. He 00:13:19.110 --> 00:13:21.529 took out the thick shoulder padding or replaced 00:13:21.529 --> 00:13:23.110 it with something incredibly light and soft. 00:13:23.330 --> 00:13:25.789 He moved the buttons to change the stress points. 00:13:26.029 --> 00:13:28.429 He used fabrics that had never been used for 00:13:28.429 --> 00:13:31.429 formal tailoring before, soft wools, crepes, 00:13:31.509 --> 00:13:33.990 even linens, and treated them like they were 00:13:33.990 --> 00:13:37.509 silk. He made the suit slouch. He invented slouchy 00:13:37.509 --> 00:13:40.080 elegance. And for men, this was just a revelation. 00:13:40.080 --> 00:13:42.240 It was a relief. All of a sudden, you could look 00:13:42.240 --> 00:13:44.480 powerful and sophisticated, but you could feel 00:13:44.480 --> 00:13:46.299 as comfortable as if you were in your pajamas. 00:13:46.980 --> 00:13:50.240 But for women, this is where it goes from a fashion 00:13:50.240 --> 00:13:52.700 story to a cultural revolution. The power suit. 00:13:52.860 --> 00:13:55.720 Exactly. Think about the timeline. This is the 00:13:55.720 --> 00:13:59.320 late 70s, early 80s. Women are entering the corporate 00:13:59.320 --> 00:14:02.559 world, the boardroom. in numbers never before 00:14:02.559 --> 00:14:05.179 seen. And they had a uniform problem. A huge 00:14:05.179 --> 00:14:07.480 one. They basically had two terrible options. 00:14:07.679 --> 00:14:10.159 Option A was to dress like a traditional secretary, 00:14:10.500 --> 00:14:13.340 you know, a soft floral dress or a skirt and 00:14:13.340 --> 00:14:16.240 blouse, and risk not being taken seriously. And 00:14:16.240 --> 00:14:18.340 be seen as the girl. Right. Or there was option 00:14:18.340 --> 00:14:21.779 B, where a direct boxy copy of a man's suit, 00:14:21.879 --> 00:14:23.899 which often just looked like you were playing 00:14:23.899 --> 00:14:25.539 dress -up in your father's clothes, felt like 00:14:25.539 --> 00:14:27.940 a costume. And Armani comes in and offers option 00:14:27.940 --> 00:14:30.870 C. He gave them a third way. He created a suit 00:14:30.870 --> 00:14:33.529 that had broad, confident shoulders. So you physically 00:14:33.529 --> 00:14:35.809 took up more space in the room. You looked formidable. 00:14:36.029 --> 00:14:38.950 But the cut, the fabric, it was all fluid. It 00:14:38.950 --> 00:14:41.409 was soft. It moved with the female form. It didn't 00:14:41.409 --> 00:14:44.230 try to hide the woman inside the suit. It empowered 00:14:44.230 --> 00:14:46.870 her. It was armor, but it was comfortable armor 00:14:46.870 --> 00:14:49.169 designed for her. It's just wild to me that a 00:14:49.169 --> 00:14:51.690 change in how a shoulder seam is sewn could have 00:14:51.690 --> 00:14:54.070 a real impact on gender politics in the workplace. 00:14:54.710 --> 00:14:56.809 But fashions never just clothes. It's a language. 00:14:57.029 --> 00:15:00.320 It's semiotics. Armani gave a generation of professional 00:15:00.320 --> 00:15:03.360 women a new vocabulary to speak power. He let 00:15:03.360 --> 00:15:05.480 them be authoritative without having to sacrifice 00:15:05.480 --> 00:15:07.580 their femininity. OK, so he's got the design 00:15:07.580 --> 00:15:09.639 genius. He's timed it perfectly with this huge 00:15:09.639 --> 00:15:12.179 social wave. But, you know, the history of fashion 00:15:12.179 --> 00:15:14.460 is littered with brilliant designers who died, 00:15:14.580 --> 00:15:17.940 broke or stayed a tiny niche brand. Armani died 00:15:17.940 --> 00:15:21.519 with twelve point one billion dollars. And looking 00:15:21.519 --> 00:15:23.679 at these financial reports in our stack, the 00:15:23.679 --> 00:15:25.620 reason he was able to scale seems to come down 00:15:25.620 --> 00:15:29.720 to one very boring sounding. acronym, GFT. Grupo 00:15:29.720 --> 00:15:32.759 Financiario Tessio. This has to be the most unglamorous 00:15:32.759 --> 00:15:34.799 part of the fashion business. I'm going to argue 00:15:34.799 --> 00:15:37.879 it is the single sexiest, most revolutionary 00:15:37.879 --> 00:15:40.159 business deal in the history of modern luxury. 00:15:40.460 --> 00:15:43.240 I am dead serious. All right, convince me. Sell 00:15:43.240 --> 00:15:47.399 me on GFT. Okay. The year is 1978. Before this 00:15:47.399 --> 00:15:50.860 moment, the luxury world is totally binary. If 00:15:50.860 --> 00:15:52.740 you're a rich man and you want a truly high -end 00:15:52.740 --> 00:15:56.690 suit, you go to a tailor on Savile Row. Or in 00:15:56.690 --> 00:15:59.330 Naples. Right. He measures you, he cuts the fabric 00:15:59.330 --> 00:16:01.269 by hand, you come back for three fittings, you 00:16:01.269 --> 00:16:03.529 wait six weeks, and you pay an absolute fortune. 00:16:04.610 --> 00:16:06.450 That's couture. Even if you're just a normal 00:16:06.450 --> 00:16:08.389 person. You go to an apartment store and you 00:16:08.389 --> 00:16:11.610 buy confection. Mass -produced, often glued together, 00:16:11.789 --> 00:16:14.350 ill -fitting suits off a rack. There was almost 00:16:14.350 --> 00:16:16.909 nothing in between. A massive gap in the market. 00:16:17.129 --> 00:16:19.289 And Armani saw that gap. He wanted to bridge 00:16:19.289 --> 00:16:21.879 it. He wanted to sell that beautiful, revolutionary, 00:16:22.019 --> 00:16:24.519 unconstructed jacket to a lawyer in Chicago, 00:16:24.799 --> 00:16:27.519 a banker in Tokyo, and an architect in London 00:16:27.519 --> 00:16:29.980 all at the same time. You can't do that if you're 00:16:29.980 --> 00:16:32.059 sewing each one by hand in Milan. You need a 00:16:32.059 --> 00:16:35.980 factory. So GFT was the factory. GFT was this 00:16:35.980 --> 00:16:37.940 incredible high -end industrial manufacturer 00:16:37.940 --> 00:16:40.960 based in Turin. They had the technology, the 00:16:40.960 --> 00:16:43.500 machines to cut and sew with incredible precision, 00:16:43.580 --> 00:16:46.519 but on an industrial scale. They were the best 00:16:46.519 --> 00:16:48.879 in Italy. So Armani goes to them and strikes 00:16:48.879 --> 00:16:51.279 a deal. He basically says, I will give you my 00:16:51.279 --> 00:16:53.799 designs, and I will maintain obsessive quality 00:16:53.799 --> 00:16:56.360 control, but you build the engines for me. It's 00:16:56.360 --> 00:16:58.679 the Apple and Foxconn model, but for suits in 00:16:58.679 --> 00:17:01.659 the 1970s. It is the exact same logic. Design 00:17:01.659 --> 00:17:04.759 in -house, manufacture out. This deal effectively 00:17:04.759 --> 00:17:07.539 invented the category of Predaporter Deluxe, 00:17:07.640 --> 00:17:09.980 luxury ready to wear. All of a sudden, you could 00:17:09.980 --> 00:17:12.299 walk into a store, buy a perfect Armani suit 00:17:12.299 --> 00:17:14.420 right off the rack, and walk out with it that 00:17:14.420 --> 00:17:17.680 day. It fit maybe 90 % as well as a bespoke suit, 00:17:17.819 --> 00:17:19.720 but it was half the price and you got it instantly. 00:17:19.920 --> 00:17:21.920 And that's when the financial fire hose just 00:17:21.920 --> 00:17:23.859 turned on full blast. That's when he went from 00:17:23.859 --> 00:17:25.940 being a celebrated Milanese designer to being 00:17:25.940 --> 00:17:29.220 a global brand. This deal is what allowed him 00:17:29.220 --> 00:17:31.339 to open the Giorgio Armani Corporation in the 00:17:31.339 --> 00:17:34.740 U .S. in 1979. It was the engine of the entire 00:17:34.740 --> 00:17:37.099 expansion. Which brings us to the next phase 00:17:37.099 --> 00:17:39.779 of the business model, because the scaling went 00:17:39.779 --> 00:17:42.880 way beyond just those high -end suits. He started 00:17:42.880 --> 00:17:45.880 to slice and dice the brand itself. The democratization 00:17:45.880 --> 00:17:49.119 phase, as he called it. The pyramid. Right. The 00:17:49.119 --> 00:17:52.539 diffusion lines. Emporio Armani. Armani jeans. 00:17:53.700 --> 00:17:57.960 AX Armani exchange. I mean, I vividly remember 00:17:57.960 --> 00:18:00.180 Aotex Armani exchange being in the mall when 00:18:00.180 --> 00:18:02.569 I was a teenager. And it was... Well, it was 00:18:02.569 --> 00:18:05.250 not a luxury experience. It was loud music and 00:18:05.250 --> 00:18:08.130 t -shirts. It was accessible. And that was the 00:18:08.130 --> 00:18:10.509 entire point. But wasn't that a huge risk? The 00:18:10.509 --> 00:18:12.369 industry must have thought he was crazy. If I 00:18:12.369 --> 00:18:15.609 just drop $3 ,000 on a Giorgio Armani black label 00:18:15.609 --> 00:18:18.269 suit, am I really happy seeing a 16 -year -old 00:18:18.269 --> 00:18:20.529 at the mall wearing a $40 t -shirt with the same 00:18:20.529 --> 00:18:23.049 name on it? Doesn't that dilute the brand? Doesn't 00:18:23.049 --> 00:18:25.410 that devalue my expensive purchase? The traditional 00:18:25.410 --> 00:18:27.430 luxury world thought he was committing brand 00:18:27.430 --> 00:18:30.720 suicide. The French couturiers, the purists in 00:18:30.720 --> 00:18:32.700 Paris, they openly laughed at him. They said, 00:18:32.720 --> 00:18:34.859 Georgie is turning his name into a supermarket. 00:18:35.859 --> 00:18:37.920 They thought he was cheapening the brand into 00:18:37.920 --> 00:18:40.180 oblivion. But they were wrong. They were completely 00:18:40.180 --> 00:18:42.880 wrong. Because Georgia wasn't thinking like a 00:18:42.880 --> 00:18:44.920 fashion designer. He was thinking like a mathematician. 00:18:45.740 --> 00:18:48.519 He understood what we now call the ladder of 00:18:48.519 --> 00:18:50.720 luxury. Explain the ladder. How does it work? 00:18:50.960 --> 00:18:53.640 It's a long -term strategy. You acquire the customer 00:18:53.640 --> 00:18:55.839 when they're young and aspirational. You sell 00:18:55.839 --> 00:18:58.690 that 16 -year -old the $40 AX t -shirt. They 00:18:58.690 --> 00:19:01.529 can afford it. It makes them feel cool. It gives 00:19:01.529 --> 00:19:03.849 them their first taste of the brand. They're 00:19:03.849 --> 00:19:06.269 now part of the Armani tribe. So you get them 00:19:06.269 --> 00:19:09.130 on the first rung of the ladder. Exactly. Then 00:19:09.130 --> 00:19:12.089 that kid gets their first real job. Maybe they 00:19:12.089 --> 00:19:14.349 upgrade to a pair of Armani jeans. Then they 00:19:14.349 --> 00:19:16.309 get a promotion. They're in their late 20s and 00:19:16.309 --> 00:19:19.930 they buy their first Emporio Armani suit. Then 00:19:19.930 --> 00:19:22.769 years later, they make partner at the law firm 00:19:22.769 --> 00:19:26.690 and they walk in and buy the $5 ,000 Giorgio 00:19:26.690 --> 00:19:30.380 Armani. Mainline suit. He monetized the entire 00:19:30.380 --> 00:19:32.779 life cycle of an aspiring human being. He grew 00:19:32.779 --> 00:19:35.299 up with you. He grew with you. And let's be totally 00:19:35.299 --> 00:19:37.920 honest about the business model here. The profit 00:19:37.920 --> 00:19:41.000 margins on a $40 t -shirt or a $60 bottle of 00:19:41.000 --> 00:19:43.660 perfume are infinitely higher than the margins 00:19:43.660 --> 00:19:46.619 on a hand -finished couture gown. The cheap stuff 00:19:46.619 --> 00:19:50.539 funds the expensive art. And the perfume deal, 00:19:50.759 --> 00:19:54.240 the agreement with L 'Oreal in the early 80s, 00:19:54.259 --> 00:19:57.430 that was just a license to print money. Acuity 00:19:57.430 --> 00:19:59.869 Joe is still one of the best selling men's fragrances 00:19:59.869 --> 00:20:02.910 in human history. That cash flow allowed him 00:20:02.910 --> 00:20:05.609 to remain independent for decades while all his 00:20:05.609 --> 00:20:07.670 rivals were going bankrupt and getting sold off. 00:20:07.769 --> 00:20:10.230 That makes perfect sense. It's the perfume paradox. 00:20:10.490 --> 00:20:12.349 Most accessible products keep the most exclusive 00:20:12.349 --> 00:20:14.410 part of the house alive. He was a master of it. 00:20:14.509 --> 00:20:17.450 But we can't talk about this 80s expansion without 00:20:17.450 --> 00:20:19.809 talking about the pop culture moment that took 00:20:19.809 --> 00:20:23.109 the brand from being merely successful to being. 00:20:24.190 --> 00:20:26.509 Stratospheric. Hollywood. And one film in particular, 00:20:26.910 --> 00:20:30.150 American Gigolo, 1980. It's the single greatest 00:20:30.150 --> 00:20:31.970 piece of product placement in the history of 00:20:31.970 --> 00:20:33.609 cinema. I don't think that's an exaggeration. 00:20:33.829 --> 00:20:35.230 I would actually argue it's not even product 00:20:35.230 --> 00:20:36.990 placement. The clothes are a co -star in the 00:20:36.990 --> 00:20:39.849 film. They're a character. I rewatched that opening 00:20:39.849 --> 00:20:41.970 scene this morning just to prep for this. And 00:20:41.970 --> 00:20:44.150 what's so powerful about it is that there is 00:20:44.150 --> 00:20:47.890 zero dialogue. None. It's just Richard Jarrah 00:20:47.890 --> 00:20:51.269 looking impossibly handsome with Smokey Robinson's 00:20:51.269 --> 00:20:53.819 The Love I Lost playing in the soundtrack. And 00:20:53.819 --> 00:20:55.980 he's getting dressed. But it's not just a guy 00:20:55.980 --> 00:20:58.200 putting on clothes. It's a ceremony. It's a ritual. 00:20:58.359 --> 00:21:01.660 Yes. He yanks open these drawers and the camera 00:21:01.660 --> 00:21:04.200 just lingers on these stacks of perfect shirts, 00:21:04.319 --> 00:21:07.640 the ties. He lays out four or five complete outfits 00:21:07.640 --> 00:21:10.500 on the bed. He's mixing and matching. The scene 00:21:10.500 --> 00:21:12.140 is telling the audience everything they need 00:21:12.140 --> 00:21:14.539 to know about this character, Julian Kang. It's 00:21:14.539 --> 00:21:17.859 saying this man is meticulous. He's a narcissist. 00:21:18.200 --> 00:21:20.859 He's obsessed with surface and appearance. He 00:21:20.859 --> 00:21:23.960 is successful. He is sexy. And the visual shorthand 00:21:23.960 --> 00:21:26.380 for all those qualities was the Armani label. 00:21:26.500 --> 00:21:29.079 It feels like after that movie came out, if you 00:21:29.079 --> 00:21:31.440 were a successful man in America, a guy on Wall 00:21:31.440 --> 00:21:33.700 Street, a producer in Hollywood, and you didn't 00:21:33.700 --> 00:21:35.799 own an Armani suit, you were almost signaling 00:21:35.799 --> 00:21:38.160 that you weren't a serious player. You were invisible. 00:21:39.069 --> 00:21:41.849 He completely owned the aesthetic of 1980s success. 00:21:42.150 --> 00:21:44.269 And then he followed it up with The Untouchables 00:21:44.269 --> 00:21:46.349 in 87. Which is funny because that's a period 00:21:46.349 --> 00:21:48.289 piece. It's set in the 1920s with gangsters. 00:21:48.470 --> 00:21:51.809 But he made them look impossibly cool. He made 00:21:51.809 --> 00:21:54.309 Al Capone and the federal agents look like fashion 00:21:54.309 --> 00:21:56.869 icons. He understood that Hollywood was the biggest 00:21:56.869 --> 00:22:00.000 runway in the world. Why bother with a fashion 00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:02.859 show for 500 editors in Milan when you can put 00:22:02.859 --> 00:22:04.819 your clothes in a blockbuster movie that will 00:22:04.819 --> 00:22:07.220 be seen by 50 million people around the globe? 00:22:07.359 --> 00:22:10.079 It's just brilliant, integrated marketing before 00:22:10.079 --> 00:22:12.339 that was even a buzzword. And it wasn't limited 00:22:12.339 --> 00:22:14.970 to film. He had this deep connection to music, 00:22:15.009 --> 00:22:17.609 too. The sources mentioned a really strong friendship 00:22:17.609 --> 00:22:20.150 with Eric Clapton, which on the surface feels 00:22:20.150 --> 00:22:22.529 like a really odd pairing. It does, doesn't it? 00:22:22.589 --> 00:22:25.329 The gritty god of blues rock and the cool minimalist 00:22:25.329 --> 00:22:28.069 Italian designer. But they were apparently best 00:22:28.069 --> 00:22:30.809 friends. Clapton composed original music for 00:22:30.809 --> 00:22:33.769 Armani's fashion shows in 1996. He played at 00:22:33.769 --> 00:22:35.990 the opening of the Emporio Armani store in New 00:22:35.990 --> 00:22:39.130 York. Armani would host these huge parties for 00:22:39.130 --> 00:22:41.390 Clapton's charity auctions. And then... Fast 00:22:41.390 --> 00:22:43.349 forward a couple of decades, and he's dressing 00:22:43.349 --> 00:22:45.849 Lady Gaga. For the Monster Bowl tour, for the 00:22:45.849 --> 00:22:48.150 Born This Way ball. I mean, just think about 00:22:48.150 --> 00:22:51.170 that aesthetic range. He goes from the understated 00:22:51.170 --> 00:22:54.569 masculine cool of Eric Clapton to the absolute 00:22:54.569 --> 00:22:57.529 avant -garde, boundary -pushing theatricality 00:22:57.529 --> 00:22:59.710 of Lady Gaga. It proves he wasn't just stuck 00:22:59.710 --> 00:23:02.769 in his 80s power suit glory days. He knew how 00:23:02.769 --> 00:23:05.569 to adapt. He stayed relevant. Most designers, 00:23:05.650 --> 00:23:08.269 they have one great moment, one decade they define, 00:23:08.529 --> 00:23:11.710 and then they become a legacy brand. Armani kept 00:23:11.710 --> 00:23:14.130 reinventing the context for his clothes, while 00:23:14.130 --> 00:23:16.369 the core aesthetic remained remarkably consistent. 00:23:16.630 --> 00:23:19.390 But right in the middle of this incredible ascent, 00:23:19.470 --> 00:23:21.630 I mean, the money is pouring in, the movies are 00:23:21.630 --> 00:23:23.930 hits, the global expansion is happening, tragedy 00:23:23.930 --> 00:23:26.529 strikes. And this part of the story, I think, 00:23:26.529 --> 00:23:29.960 really reveals the core of the man. 1985. The 00:23:29.960 --> 00:23:32.539 whole empire almost crumbled. Sergio Galeotti 00:23:32.539 --> 00:23:34.799 dies. He was so young, he died of complications 00:23:34.799 --> 00:23:38.339 from AIDS. Although at the time, like so many 00:23:38.339 --> 00:23:40.380 in that era, it was often vaguely reported in 00:23:40.380 --> 00:23:42.680 the press as heart failure or degenerative illness. 00:23:42.940 --> 00:23:44.640 And this goes back to that partnership dynamic 00:23:44.640 --> 00:23:47.839 we talked about. Galeotti was the business brain. 00:23:48.039 --> 00:23:51.539 He was the CEO, the strategist. Armani was the 00:23:51.539 --> 00:23:54.299 creative genius. That was the perception across 00:23:54.299 --> 00:23:57.319 the entire industry. Giorgio draws the pretty 00:23:57.319 --> 00:23:59.640 pictures, but Sergio is the one who actually 00:23:59.640 --> 00:24:03.279 runs the company. So when Sergio died, the vultures 00:24:03.279 --> 00:24:05.680 started circling immediately. Everyone assumed 00:24:05.680 --> 00:24:07.519 Giorgio would sell the company. They assumed 00:24:07.519 --> 00:24:09.880 he couldn't possibly run it himself. It must 00:24:09.880 --> 00:24:11.660 have been just a personally devastating blow. 00:24:11.799 --> 00:24:13.660 This wasn't just a business partner. This was 00:24:13.660 --> 00:24:16.839 his life partner. Armani later called it his 00:24:16.839 --> 00:24:19.750 greatest failure. Not a business failure, the 00:24:19.750 --> 00:24:21.950 fact that he couldn't save him. He said he had 00:24:21.950 --> 00:24:23.809 all the money and power in the world, and he 00:24:23.809 --> 00:24:26.049 couldn't stop this virus. But he didn't sell. 00:24:26.230 --> 00:24:28.789 He didn't crumble. No. And this is where that 00:24:28.789 --> 00:24:30.910 incredible discipline, that medical student focus, 00:24:31.049 --> 00:24:34.069 comes roaring back. He didn't fall apart. He 00:24:34.069 --> 00:24:36.349 grieved, but then he absorbed Gagliotti's job. 00:24:36.730 --> 00:24:38.710 He taught himself finance. He learned how to 00:24:38.710 --> 00:24:41.029 read the contracts. He became the CEO and the 00:24:41.029 --> 00:24:43.329 creative director. Which is incredibly rare in 00:24:43.329 --> 00:24:46.009 any industry, let alone fashion. Usually the 00:24:46.009 --> 00:24:48.930 top creatives make for terrible managers. It's 00:24:48.930 --> 00:24:51.369 almost unique at that scale. He became a one 00:24:51.369 --> 00:24:54.769 -man army. And he held on to that absolute control 00:24:54.769 --> 00:24:58.289 for the next 40 years. He refused to let anyone 00:24:58.289 --> 00:25:01.049 else in. He proved every single one of the skeptics 00:25:01.049 --> 00:25:03.670 wrong. The business actually accelerated its 00:25:03.670 --> 00:25:06.150 growth after Gagliotti's death. But that isolation, 00:25:06.430 --> 00:25:09.130 that control, it kind of became his defining 00:25:09.130 --> 00:25:11.470 public image, didn't it? The man behind the dark 00:25:11.470 --> 00:25:14.230 sunglasses. It did. He became the hermit king 00:25:14.230 --> 00:25:16.930 of fashion. He spent his free time on his enormous 00:25:16.930 --> 00:25:19.380 yacht, the Maine. He surrounded himself with 00:25:19.380 --> 00:25:22.000 a very tight circle of family. His sister Rosanna 00:25:22.000 --> 00:25:25.000 was his muse, his nieces Silvana and Roberta, 00:25:25.059 --> 00:25:27.500 his nephew Andrea. They all worked for the company. 00:25:27.660 --> 00:25:30.180 It was a fortress. And speaking of that fortress, 00:25:30.319 --> 00:25:32.140 we do have to touch on the complexity of his 00:25:32.140 --> 00:25:35.140 personal views. Because while he was busy revolutionizing 00:25:35.140 --> 00:25:37.200 how men and women presented themselves to the 00:25:37.200 --> 00:25:40.200 world, some of his own social views were. Well, 00:25:40.220 --> 00:25:41.839 they felt like they came from a much earlier 00:25:41.839 --> 00:25:43.779 era. We have to talk about the comments. The 00:25:43.779 --> 00:25:45.819 interview with the Sunday Times in 2015. Right. 00:25:45.880 --> 00:25:47.920 Where he was asked about gay men's style. And 00:25:47.920 --> 00:25:50.420 he said, quote, a homosexual man is a man 100 00:25:50.420 --> 00:25:52.940 percent. He does not need to dress homosexual. 00:25:53.299 --> 00:25:56.299 Which read today sounds pretty jarring. It caused 00:25:56.299 --> 00:25:58.079 a huge backlash at the time. And rightly so. 00:25:58.220 --> 00:26:00.220 People called it internalized homophobia. They 00:26:00.220 --> 00:26:02.579 said it was deeply conservative. But I think 00:26:02.579 --> 00:26:05.789 to understand it. Not to excuse it, but to understand 00:26:05.789 --> 00:26:08.109 it. You have to see it through the lens of his 00:26:08.109 --> 00:26:10.410 generation and his personal aesthetic. He was 00:26:10.410 --> 00:26:13.609 born in 1934. He came of age in a time when discretion 00:26:13.609 --> 00:26:18.009 was survival. His entire brand is built on understatement, 00:26:18.009 --> 00:26:22.490 on quiet dignity. To him, anything loud or campy 00:26:22.490 --> 00:26:25.589 or theatrical was undignified. It was a violation 00:26:25.589 --> 00:26:28.470 of his core principle of quiet control. So it's 00:26:28.470 --> 00:26:30.990 this fascinating contradiction. He's this pioneering, 00:26:30.990 --> 00:26:34.089 openly gay man who built a global empire in a 00:26:34.089 --> 00:26:36.190 creative industry, but he held these very... 00:26:37.019 --> 00:26:38.900 traditionalist views on how people should express 00:26:38.900 --> 00:26:40.859 themselves publicly. But people are complicated. 00:26:41.099 --> 00:26:43.400 And Armani was very much a man of his time even 00:26:43.400 --> 00:26:45.039 as he was designing the clothes for the future. 00:26:45.140 --> 00:26:47.980 He just valued that quiet, controlled elegance 00:26:47.980 --> 00:26:50.579 above all else. Let's zoom out a bit to the sheer 00:26:50.579 --> 00:26:52.940 breadth of the empire he built in those later 00:26:52.940 --> 00:26:56.299 years. Because it went so far beyond just clothes, 00:26:56.619 --> 00:26:59.519 it became a lifestyle brand in the truest sense, 00:26:59.740 --> 00:27:03.099 like sports, for example. I had no idea how deeply 00:27:03.099 --> 00:27:05.319 involved he was in the sports world. Oh, he was 00:27:05.319 --> 00:27:08.019 a fanatic, especially for basketball. He was 00:27:08.019 --> 00:27:10.460 the owner and president of Olympia Milano, the 00:27:10.460 --> 00:27:13.200 city's team. And not just a silent check writing 00:27:13.200 --> 00:27:16.539 owner. He was involved. He was passionate. The 00:27:16.539 --> 00:27:18.960 team won multiple Italian League titles under 00:27:18.960 --> 00:27:21.920 his ownership. He said he loved basketball because, 00:27:22.000 --> 00:27:25.039 unlike football, which can be so divisive, it 00:27:25.039 --> 00:27:27.799 united the city. But he was into football soccer 00:27:27.799 --> 00:27:30.619 as well. A huge Inter Milan fan. Yeah. But he 00:27:30.619 --> 00:27:33.180 was pragmatic. He designed the formal suits for 00:27:33.180 --> 00:27:35.299 the director's suite at Chelsea FC in London. 00:27:35.539 --> 00:27:37.640 He designed the official suits for the England 00:27:37.640 --> 00:27:39.500 national team for a while. And the Olympics. 00:27:39.759 --> 00:27:42.680 Of course. He designed the uniforms for the Italian 00:27:42.680 --> 00:27:45.859 national teams for the 2006 Winter Olympics in 00:27:45.859 --> 00:27:49.539 Turin, the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, and 00:27:49.539 --> 00:27:51.920 then more recently a big sponsorship with Scuderia 00:27:51.920 --> 00:27:55.000 Ferrari in Formula One. He wanted the Armani 00:27:55.000 --> 00:27:57.299 logo to be synonymous with excellence in performance, 00:27:57.619 --> 00:27:59.799 whether on a runway or a racetrack. And then 00:27:59.799 --> 00:28:01.940 you have the hotels. The Armani Hotel in Dubai. 00:28:02.119 --> 00:28:04.140 Inside the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building 00:28:04.140 --> 00:28:06.920 in the world. He has the bottom 39 floors. And 00:28:06.920 --> 00:28:08.859 again, this is where you see the control freak 00:28:08.859 --> 00:28:12.400 aspect in its purest form. He signed the deal 00:28:12.400 --> 00:28:15.319 with Emar Properties, but he retained total creative 00:28:15.319 --> 00:28:18.079 control over everything. Every piece of furniture 00:28:18.079 --> 00:28:21.119 is from his Armani Casa home line. Every fabric, 00:28:21.180 --> 00:28:24.339 every finish, the scent in the lobby. You weren't 00:28:24.339 --> 00:28:25.900 just staying at a luxury hotel. You were literally 00:28:25.900 --> 00:28:29.049 sleeping inside Giorgio Armani's brain. I do 00:28:29.049 --> 00:28:30.750 want to touch on some of his ethical stances, 00:28:30.750 --> 00:28:33.009 too, because in some areas he was actually way 00:28:33.009 --> 00:28:35.990 ahead of the curve. He really was. In 2007, he 00:28:35.990 --> 00:28:37.970 became the first major international designer 00:28:37.970 --> 00:28:41.769 to ban models with a body mass index, a BMI under 00:28:41.769 --> 00:28:44.569 18 from his shows. And this was right after the 00:28:44.569 --> 00:28:47.150 tragic death of the Brazilian model Ana Carolina 00:28:47.150 --> 00:28:50.509 Reston from anorexia. Yes. The industry was in 00:28:50.509 --> 00:28:53.250 crisis over the size zero debate, and there was 00:28:53.250 --> 00:28:56.170 a lot of talk. But Armani was the one who actually 00:28:56.170 --> 00:28:59.970 took action and set a hard numerical rule. He 00:28:59.970 --> 00:29:01.789 recognized that his clothes had a responsibility, 00:29:02.069 --> 00:29:04.130 that they shouldn't demand an unhealthy body 00:29:04.130 --> 00:29:06.250 type to be worn. And he was an early adopter 00:29:06.250 --> 00:29:08.509 of sustainability, too. For the luxury space, 00:29:08.730 --> 00:29:10.910 yes. He joined the Green Carpet Challenge back 00:29:10.910 --> 00:29:14.710 in 2011. He created a dress for Livia Firth for 00:29:14.710 --> 00:29:16.869 a red carpet event that was made entirely from 00:29:16.869 --> 00:29:19.609 recycled plastic bottles. He was one of the first 00:29:19.609 --> 00:29:21.569 to prove that sustainable materials could also 00:29:21.569 --> 00:29:24.329 be high fashion. So he wasn't just this static 00:29:24.329 --> 00:29:26.829 traditionalist figure. He was still evolving, 00:29:26.950 --> 00:29:29.430 still adapting. Constantly, right up to the end. 00:29:29.569 --> 00:29:31.950 Which brings us to the end, the final years. 00:29:32.329 --> 00:29:34.490 The signs that something was changing started 00:29:34.490 --> 00:29:38.619 to appear. In June of 2025, he missed Milan Fashion 00:29:38.619 --> 00:29:40.660 Week for the men's collection. And that was a 00:29:40.660 --> 00:29:44.119 first, right? He had never, ever missed a show. 00:29:44.259 --> 00:29:46.819 He was always there backstage making final adjustments 00:29:46.819 --> 00:29:49.559 himself. When he wasn't there, the whole industry 00:29:49.559 --> 00:29:52.200 knew something was seriously wrong. The king 00:29:52.200 --> 00:29:54.779 was tired. And then the news broke. September 00:29:54.779 --> 00:29:58.460 4th, 2025, he passed away from liver failure 00:29:58.460 --> 00:30:01.259 at his home in Milan. The response was immediate 00:30:01.259 --> 00:30:04.220 and immense. They held a public wake at his own 00:30:04.220 --> 00:30:06.799 performance space, the Armada Teatro, and something 00:30:06.799 --> 00:30:09.460 like 15 ,000 people lined up to pay their respects. 00:30:09.680 --> 00:30:12.960 15 ,000. That's the size of a sports arena. It 00:30:12.960 --> 00:30:15.019 was an outpouring of grief for the city's patriarch. 00:30:15.599 --> 00:30:18.579 And then the funeral on September 8th was a very 00:30:18.579 --> 00:30:21.400 private affair, a burial in his family's chapel. 00:30:22.160 --> 00:30:24.240 But this is where the story takes its final, 00:30:24.279 --> 00:30:26.940 most fascinating turn, the will. It was released 00:30:26.940 --> 00:30:29.099 to the public on September 12, and this is the 00:30:29.099 --> 00:30:31.460 document that fashion analysts and business journalists 00:30:31.460 --> 00:30:33.500 are still trying to fully unpack. This is the 00:30:33.500 --> 00:30:37.259 twist ending to the entire 40 -year story. Because 00:30:37.259 --> 00:30:40.180 for decades, Armani's entire identity was built 00:30:40.180 --> 00:30:43.460 on one word. Independence. He refused to sell. 00:30:43.579 --> 00:30:47.099 He watched as Gucci, Fendi, Bulgari, all the 00:30:47.099 --> 00:30:49.640 other great Italian houses were bought up by 00:30:49.640 --> 00:30:53.220 the big French luxury conglomerates LVMH and 00:30:53.220 --> 00:30:57.819 Kering. He stood alone. Giorgio Armani SBA, independent 00:30:57.819 --> 00:31:00.079 to the core. He was the last of the Mohicans, 00:31:00.319 --> 00:31:02.799 the last Italian emperor holding out against 00:31:02.799 --> 00:31:06.000 the French giants. He was. But the will changed 00:31:06.000 --> 00:31:08.500 the entire game plan. So what did the will actually 00:31:08.500 --> 00:31:10.960 say? What was the key provision? The key provision 00:31:10.960 --> 00:31:13.000 instructs his heirs, which is a foundation he 00:31:13.000 --> 00:31:15.279 set up, plus his family members, to sell an initial 00:31:15.279 --> 00:31:17.880 minority stake of 15 % in the company. So after 00:31:17.880 --> 00:31:19.779 all that, he's finally opening the door. He's 00:31:19.779 --> 00:31:22.079 cracking it open. But here's the kicker. The 00:31:22.079 --> 00:31:24.650 document lists his preferred... Priority buyers. 00:31:24.869 --> 00:31:27.950 And who is on that list? LVMH, Eslo Luxottica, 00:31:28.089 --> 00:31:31.710 or L 'Oreal? Wait, LVMH, as in Bernard Arnault, 00:31:31.869 --> 00:31:33.690 the man who runs the conglomerate he spent his 00:31:33.690 --> 00:31:35.849 entire life competing against? The very same. 00:31:36.009 --> 00:31:38.089 Why? After fighting for independence for 40 years, 00:31:38.170 --> 00:31:40.589 why give it up in your final instructions? I 00:31:40.589 --> 00:31:43.000 think it's the ultimate act of pragmatism. Armani 00:31:43.000 --> 00:31:46.460 was, above all else, a realist. He knew that 00:31:46.460 --> 00:31:48.740 without him, without the singular vision of the 00:31:48.740 --> 00:31:51.119 founder at the helm, the company would be vulnerable. 00:31:51.359 --> 00:31:54.539 The global luxury market today is a brutal expense 00:31:54.539 --> 00:31:57.519 of war. It requires billions in marketing spend, 00:31:57.759 --> 00:32:01.180 massive global distribution networks, a huge 00:32:01.180 --> 00:32:03.930 e -commerce infrastructure. And a standalone 00:32:03.930 --> 00:32:06.869 family -run business, even one as big as Armani, 00:32:07.109 --> 00:32:09.569 might struggle to compete in that environment 00:32:09.569 --> 00:32:13.029 long term. Exactly. So by inviting a giant like 00:32:13.029 --> 00:32:15.470 LVMH or L 'Oreal to come in and take a minority 00:32:15.470 --> 00:32:18.210 stake, he's basically buying an insurance policy 00:32:18.210 --> 00:32:20.769 for his legacy. He gets their financial muscle, 00:32:20.930 --> 00:32:22.809 their distribution scale, and their political 00:32:22.809 --> 00:32:25.309 protection, all without giving them total control 00:32:25.309 --> 00:32:27.309 of the company. It's a strategic partnership 00:32:27.309 --> 00:32:30.109 to ensure the brand survives. for the next 50 00:32:30.109 --> 00:32:32.309 years. So in the end, he chose survival over 00:32:32.309 --> 00:32:35.490 solitude. He chose legacy over ideology. He wanted 00:32:35.490 --> 00:32:37.450 the name Armani to still mean something in the 00:32:37.450 --> 00:32:40.069 year 2100. And he was smart enough to know that 00:32:40.069 --> 00:32:42.670 to achieve that, the company needed powerful 00:32:42.670 --> 00:32:45.559 allies after he was gone. It's just fascinating. 00:32:45.740 --> 00:32:47.460 Even from the Grays, he's playing chess while 00:32:47.460 --> 00:32:49.480 everyone else is playing checkers. Always the 00:32:49.480 --> 00:32:51.819 master strategist. So when we look back at the 00:32:51.819 --> 00:32:54.859 final tally, $1 .6 billion in annual turnover, 00:32:55.119 --> 00:32:58.759 a personal fortune of $12 .1 billion, a life 00:32:58.759 --> 00:33:01.980 of 91 years, what's the headline? How do you 00:33:01.980 --> 00:33:04.720 sum up an impact that large? I think the BBC 00:33:04.720 --> 00:33:07.339 probably put it best in their obituary. They 00:33:07.339 --> 00:33:09.420 said he was responsible for the most lasting 00:33:09.420 --> 00:33:11.660 change in the way we dress since Coco Chanel. 00:33:11.880 --> 00:33:14.019 That is about the highest praise you can get 00:33:14.019 --> 00:33:17.099 in fashion. Chanel is the absolute gold standard. 00:33:17.400 --> 00:33:19.960 And I think it's accurate. Chanel freed women 00:33:19.960 --> 00:33:23.500 from the corset in the 1920s. Armani freed everyone, 00:33:23.740 --> 00:33:25.920 men and women, from the tyranny of stiffness 00:33:25.920 --> 00:33:29.119 in the 1970s and 80s. He invented the power suit. 00:33:29.259 --> 00:33:32.099 He basically invented the color grige. He made 00:33:32.099 --> 00:33:34.950 luxury comfortable. It's just an incredible arc. 00:33:35.109 --> 00:33:37.490 The boy who was burned by a forgotten tool of 00:33:37.490 --> 00:33:39.930 war grows up to dress the most powerful and visible 00:33:39.930 --> 00:33:42.049 people in the world. And not just dress them. 00:33:42.109 --> 00:33:44.609 He changed how they felt in their own skin. He 00:33:44.609 --> 00:33:47.769 gave them a uniform of quiet confidence. So here's 00:33:47.769 --> 00:33:49.900 a thought to maybe leave everyone with. Giorgio 00:33:49.900 --> 00:33:53.079 Armani spent his entire life building this impenetrable 00:33:53.079 --> 00:33:55.960 fortress of independence. He was the undisputed 00:33:55.960 --> 00:33:59.480 king in his own castle. But his very final act, 00:33:59.619 --> 00:34:02.680 his will, was to open the drawbridge just a crack 00:34:02.680 --> 00:34:05.900 to invite in the very giants he spent a lifetime 00:34:05.900 --> 00:34:09.199 fighting. And it makes you wonder. Does a singular, 00:34:09.320 --> 00:34:11.960 powerful vision like Armani's ever truly survive 00:34:11.960 --> 00:34:15.179 its founder? Or does everything eventually inevitably 00:34:15.179 --> 00:34:18.300 become just another valuable asset in a global 00:34:18.300 --> 00:34:20.820 conglomerate's portfolio? It's the ultimate question 00:34:20.820 --> 00:34:23.639 of legacy versus machinery. Can the soul of the 00:34:23.639 --> 00:34:26.519 brand survive without the man himself? I guess 00:34:26.519 --> 00:34:28.079 we're about to find out. So next time you put 00:34:28.079 --> 00:34:30.260 on a jacket, any jacket, even if it's not an 00:34:30.260 --> 00:34:32.360 Armani cheeky shoulder, if it's soft, if it moves 00:34:32.360 --> 00:34:35.079 with you, if it doesn't feel like a cage, you 00:34:35.079 --> 00:34:38.039 know who to thank for that. Thanks for joining 00:34:38.039 --> 00:34:39.699 us for the deep dive. Goodbye, everyone.