During the late s, despite Galeotti's death , Armani continued to expand commercial horizons and licensing agreements. After the frenetic expansion of the s sportswear, eyeglasses, cosmetics, home, and new accessories collections , the year , the twenty-fifth anniversary of the brand, saw a flurry of investment activity, including stock sales and the acquisition of new manufacturing capacity intended to increase Armani's control over the quality and distribution of his products.
There is a common thread running through Armani's stylistic development that is closely associated with the change in contemporary society. It led to the creation of clothing and accessories that aimed at a clean, simple style, beyond fashion, designed to enhance the personality of the person who wore it. When, in , the designer presented the first unstructured jackets for men, unlined and unironed, the product of years of experience in production design, they were intended to lower labor costs and simplify tailoring.
But in introducing them Armani opened a third way in men's clothing, an alternative to the traditional approach of English tailoring and the expectations associated with Italian made-to-measure clothing, realizing an innovative synthesis between formal wear and loose, flexible sportswear.
With the invention of the blazer worn as a pullover, Armani offered men a new identity that rejected rigid professional divisions and allowed them to present themselves as young, attractive, and vaguely feminine.
Referred to as the "first postmodern designer," by several Italian newspapers, for his radically unstructured garments, Armani had simply softened men's wear and made women's wear more concise and modern, transforming changing social roles into an "Armani look," making the casual look authoritative.
Official recognition of his fame came in when he appeared on the cover of Time magazine, only the second fashion designer, after Christian Dior, to do so. Armani had freed women from their stiff suits, providing them with soft jackets without collars and with comfortable pants. Although initially somewhat severe, as if intended to assist women in their climb to professional credibility, these outfits greatly enhanced a type of femininity that, because it was not ostentatious, was ultimately more real.
Armani sought to establish an image of a woman who was strong but not harsh a mix of the film stars Greta Garbo and Marlene Dietrich in modern dress and who could be practical and indispensable as well as glamorous. Over time the jacket has continued to remain the centerpiece of the Armani wardrobe, changing year by year through the use of new materials, new proportions, and new colors.
For Armani the "greige" somewhere between gray and beige of remained the most typical element in a palette often centered on shades of white and black, soft earth tones, dusty blues, and occasional unexpected bursts of color. The search for fabrics has always been one of the distinctive elements of Armani's collections for men and women, becoming a key design element in , together with embroidery and the return to evening wear that he brought about.
Here the look was precious and exclusive but always in a minimalist key, demystified through the use of low-heeled shoes or sneakers. An attentive analyst of past cultures and Eastern influences, Armani's clothing has never been a collage of banal ideas. Throughout his career he has always succeeded in providing new images of how men and women dress and in translating elegant, decorative patterns into a unique but accessible style.
Bianchino, Gloria, and Arturo Carlo Quintavalle. Moda: Dalla fiaba al design italia Novara, Italy: De Agostini, Bucci, Ampelio. Milan: Abitare Segesta, Celant, Germano, and Harold Koda, eds. His designs used fabrics in surprising contexts and blends which also became his defining style. His trademark was reinterpreting the traditional business suits to unstructured and comfortable styles for men and a more masculine look for women. He was the first designer after Christian Dior to appear on the cover of Times magazine.
He used to approach celebs to wear his designs on events. Giorgio Armani also designed costumes for theater, stage and airline crew. His long term partner Galeotti died due to cancer in and although people thought this would be the end for Armani, he not only increased his business activities he proved to the world that he was an extremely talented executive and designer.
His latest business venture is Armani hotels. He opened his first hotel in Dubai and another in Milan. The Giorgio Armani fashion house, like many other fashion houses, has been built primarily on the unique personality and identity of Giorgio Armani himself. The brand takes on the identity of the founder through the designs created. Though this aspect of the fashion industry provides fashion houses with a strong sense of differentiation that can be conveyed in a tangible and visual form, it also poses a serious threat.
Whenever a brand gains popularity and acceptance from its target customers in its core business, the next obvious step for the brand is to charter a new course by venturing into different product lines, different segments, and ever different markets.
This phenomenon seems common across industry sectors. Giorgio Armani with its iconic popularity amongst the elite of the society and the fashion literate segment of the market has followed similar steps by extending the brand. Today the Armani brand architecture encompasses one corporate brand and three sub-brands, each catering to different sets of target customers and at different price levels.
The signature Giorgio Armani line: This is the main collection of very high quality classic apparel that consists of the signature Armani suits, Oscar gowns and so on, which are of the ultra-premium price points and essentially targeting consumers in the 35 to 50 year old age group. Emporio Armani: Targeted especially at the young professional segment in the 25 to 35 year old age group, the Emporio Armani brand provides fashionable and contemporary designs that are relevant to the target customers.
Milan and wore the number 7 jersey. It was created for everyone who loves exceptional style and wants to maximize their experience from sporting activity.
This fashion label caters to a wide range of sport including running, fitness, golf and winter sports. This serves as the ultimate testimony to the power of the brand. By providing the entire range of its apparels and accessories, Armani Exchange provides customers with the complete feel of the luxurious fashion of Giorgio Armani. In , the Armani Group completed its 3-year streamlining transformation and has discontinued the following lines:.
It offers gala and award-show wear including gowns and suits that are ultra-luxurious, exemplifying the understated chic that epitomizes the essence of the Giorgio Armani brand. This line is almost exclusively targeted at the rich and famous. This basically caters to the segment of people who aspire to wear high quality Armani apparel but cannot afford the ultimate signature line, or to those who crave to add extra products to their existing portfolios.
Armani Jeans: This is the lowest range of Armani apparel. This Armani brand is to the value segment what the signature line is to the premium segment. Catering necessarily to the young adults in the 18 to 30 year old age group, the Armani Jeans collection provides a trendy yet fashionable and luxurious line of apparel. Armani Junior: This kids fashion brand was designed specifically for infants and children.
The brand is best known for its sophisticated simplicity, sleek tailoring and classic colours. Taking inspiration from the adult line, sumptuous materials and attention to detail are combined to create a collection which is synonymous with quality. Armani Junior : This kids fashion brand was designed specifically for infants and children. The corporate brand and sub-brands help Giorgio Armani to operate in many segments of the fashion apparel market.
But this is not all. Not only does Armani straddle many segments of the same product category, but also many different product categories. Leveraging its strong brand equity in the fashion apparel market, Giorgio Armani has ventured into other related categories like eye wear, watches and cosmetics.
These are made available in each of the above-mentioned brand categories to ensure that it is available to the different segments of the market. It is usually argued that eye wear, perfumes, watches and cosmetics are strongly related to fashion and luxury and thus it is natural for fashion houses to extend their brands into these categories.
Giorgio Armani is a very strong example for this argument. By leveraging its expert knowledge of the fashion and luxury industry, Armani has been able to come up with winning concepts in the other product lines of cosmetics, watches, jewellery, eye wear, underwear and loungewear.
But Armani has not stopped at fashion as a product category. Armani has extended the brand into multiple other categories, such as:.
Armani Casa home collection : This brand shows how Giorgio Armani presents his ideal for living, his dream of the perfect environment: an intimate and comfortable space in which to relax, unwind and entertain. It offers up-market furniture, home accessories, textiles and decorative objects, as well as interior design services for a variety of spaces including yachts, planes and villas.
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