Giorgio Armani

History

Giorgio Armani, who had been a window dresser and then a designer for Nino Cerruti, founded his house in Milan in 1975 with Sergio Galeotti. His contribution was technical before it was aesthetic: he took the interlining and the structure out of the men's jacket and made it a soft garment. In the eighties that silhouette was the uniform of power. Perfumery began in 1982 and went mass with Acqua di Giò in 1996, an aquatic that defined the category for two decades. In 2004 he opened Armani Privé, his high perfumery line, which competes on equal terms with the niche houses.

Iconic models

• Acqua di Giò (1996)

  The aquatic that defined a whole category and is still imitated.

• Armani Code (2004)

  A tonka bean amber; the house's other great masculine.

• Armani Privé (line, 2004)

  High perfumery in short runs; it plays in the niche league, not the designer one.

• Si (2013)

  A fruity chypre; the house's best-selling feminine.