Name	Georgio Armani
Height
Naionality	Italian
Date of Birth	11-July-1934
Place of Birth	Italy
Famous for

Giorgio Armani started out in fashion as a window dresser - and has gone on to become Italy's most successful designer, worth $4.1 (£2.1) billion in 2007.


He is a fashion grandee with numerous franchise lines: from the famous jeans to a Pat McGrath-designed makeup line, over 2000 emporia worldwide and over $1 billion sales per year.

• Born in Piacenza, Italy in 1934, he studied medicine and photography before completing military service
•In 1974, Armani launched his menswear label - his first womenswear collection following a year later
• Giorgio Armani was cemented in the public imagination for dressing Richard Gere in American Gigolo in 1980

Armani masterminded his own soft-shouldered suit silhouette that remains a staple of today's designs. Another renaissance man, his designs retain their popularity and aged elegance.

In the early days he talked of England being important to him: "It was virtually the most important centre for inspiration," he says. "I remember seeing some yellow cardigans in a small boutique and everyone thought I was insane. Yellow cardigans were what the Duke of Windsor was about, they were not something for the average man. The entire idea of such clothing was so outré, so elitist... Very, very English.