Giorgio Armani is one of the most iconic and influential designers of our time whose range of clothing and accessories are favoured for their unique and exquisite Italian style. The designer was born in Piacenza, Italy in 1934 and found his way into the fashion industry in the 1960’s. Unlike many designers who have always strived to pursue their passion for fashion from a young age, Armani was a late starter as originally went to study medicine at Milan University before falling into the fashion industry via his first job.

Armani’s first taste of the fashion industry came when he became a window dresser at a large Milanese department store named La Rinascente. Renowned for being a perfectionist, he developed a unique style which was incredibly classic and chic and later following trips to the UK, this was further enhanced. Italy may be largely regarded as the centre of the fashion universe, but whilst in the UK Armani was very much inspired by the shop windows and how the mannequins were styled to perfection with bursts of vibrant colour. Favouring the essence of UK style, Armani decided to bring back some bright yellow cardigans that he had seen in a small boutique and sell them in Il Rinascente. Of course, people thought this was a crazy idea and that the cardigans were far too bold, brash, and elitist for the Italian traditional fashion. However, Armani was adamant that the English style could transcend to Italy and carried on regardless and the cardigans proved very popular. Following a job as a designer for Nino Cerruti’s men’s clothing company, Hitman, Ungaro and Zegna in 1974, Armani decided to go it alone and introduced his own menswear label. His first womenswear collection came only a year later following his success.

The success of Giorgio Armani is due to his ability to create clothing and accessories that people can actually wear. This may sound quite ironic since that is the job of every designer, but where designer fashion is concerned many people feel intimidated by it as feel it is too over the top, unsuitable and unwearable in relation to their lifestyle. Armani bases his design inspirations on everyday and regular people, believing that clothes should be made to be worn not just seen on the catwalks. Armani was responsible for making the feared power suit of the 1980’s a little softer, demure and practical and Armani’s collections are elegant, understated and can be mixed with a variety of other pieces.

The collection of Armani sunglasses are an extension of his range of clothing and portray that same essence of wearability but with an original style that can be sound in the form of bold patterns and  colours which injects a funky and high trend edge. Where being bold is concerned, accessories allow you to be a little braver and thus Armani has created a superb range of sunglasses that vary from high trend through to classic and everything in between which ensures you can get just the right balance of Armani style.

Style icons who have appeared in Armani advertising campaigns include both Victoria and David Beckham and singer Beyonce and the number of A List fans of the brand is endless! A legendary designer of our time that allows each and every individual to look and feel stylish, classic and ultra sophisticated!