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Among the hundreds of designers whose names populate our wardrobes and imaginations, very few ultimately change how we dress — change the actual shape of things. Most iterate, playing around with what we already know. Their clothes may capture a moment perfectly, even joyfully, but they don’t necessarily alter the permanent vocabulary of fashion.
To do so is what vaults a designer into the pantheon. Most are lucky if they do it once, like Christian Dior with the New Look. Even fewer do it twice, as Coco Chanel did with her cardigan suits and little black dresses, and as Yves Saint Laurent did with his safaris and smoking jackets. Giorgio Armani, who died on Thursday at 91, did it.
He changed the look of the chief executive and the celebrity.
He did it by relaxing the cut of a suit, proving that soft power was not just a term for political strategy, but also a sartorial one, and by coining the word “greige” in 1975 to describe the particular combination of gray and beige that became his signature. And he did it by marrying sparkle to minimalism to redefine the glamour of the star.
It’s hard to overstate the impact of those innovations, especially now that they seem a matter of course. That itself is proof of just how effective they were.
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His clothes were both armor and uniform, but they were never aggressive. They derived their strength from a kind of controlled serenity and freedom — control over both image and environment also being a crucial part of the Armani identity and promise. For while Mr. Armani’s designs may have seemed relaxed, they also telegraphed the authority of the decision maker, a reflection of his approach to both his art and his business.
