Giorgio Armani

Italian designer and award winning top star who created a fashion empire in 15 yrs. As a youth, he first studied medicine then became an assistant men's wear buyer and fashion coordinator in Milan. He worked for eight years as a designer for Cerutti before going freelance. He opened his own house in Milan in 1975, the president and founder of Giorgio Armani Corp. and Boutiques. With Machiavellian style business tactics he made a fortune, basking in celebrity. Armani was raised during war time in the industrial city of Piacenza, a frequent target for air raids. One day when he was nine and his sister, four, a schoolmate found a smoke grenade and wanted to show it to him. The subsequent explosion killed his friend and burned Giorgio from head to foot. He spend 40 days in the hospital in excruciating pain. He also remembers the pleasure of having chicken for dinner after months without. In 1949, the family moved to Milan where he studied medicine, then got a job in a department store setting up displays. When he met ten-year-younger Sergio Galeotti, he found a friend and partner for both business and his life. They opened a small office from which he marketed his garments. From 1974, he began to represent with emerging Italian fashion industry, along with Versace, becoming a household name in the following 20 years. In 1979 he openly declared his bi-sexuality. His partner, Sergio, died of AIDS in 1985. He not only lost his friend but had to take over the financial and legal aspects of his business. Early October 1994, Italian investigators charged him with bribing tax officials with as much as $100,000 to look the other way at income-tax time. He pleaded guilty 5/10/96, was given a nine month suspended sentence and fined $64,000. In September 2000, Armani was slapped with a $10 million lawsuit by Bonnie Solomon, a former advertising director, on sexual harassment charges. It was ruled by a judge that Armani may have to stand trial. In the fall of 2001 he added to a retail empire that already spans more than 200 outlets in 33 countries by opening new Casa Armani home-design stores in Los Angeles and New York, and mega stores next year in Hong Kong and London. Where other fashion houses are selling or consolidating, he is expanding. He had accumulated some $800 million that allowed him to make such a bold move. Link to Wikipedia biography