Armani Takes on the World

Armani Takes on the World

Thanks to his contact on the inside, Armani was hired by La Rinascente as a window dresser. He was quickly promoted as a buyer for the department store thanks to his keen eye for style. Working in the men's wear section, it was here that Armani gained his first valuable exposure to the world of fashion, making regular trips to London to seek out the latest trends.
In the early 1960s, Armani crossed over to work for Nino Cerutti, an Italian fashion designer who was becoming well-established in the industry. Armani was hired to work as an assistant designer for Cerutti's line of men's wear, Hitman. Over the next decade, Armani continued to work for Cerutti, but due to the high demand of his skills, he also became a successful freelance designer. At one point he was contributing fashions to ten different fashion houses at once, including some of the biggest names, such as Ungaro and Zegna.
A chance encounter in 1966 would set Armani down a new path. That was the year he met a young architect named Sergio Galeotti. Galeotti was eleven years younger than Armani, but recognized the talent in the young designer. He moved to Milan to be with Armani, all the while encouraging him to go off on his own and create his own collection rather than continue to design for others.
In 1970, Armani finally left Cerruti. He continued chasing freelance work until 1974, when Galeotti's words of encouragement seemed to finally pay of. That year, Armani and Galeotti decided to create their own company. His first outfit would in fact become his signature piece - the "unconstructed" suit jacket. By removing the standard lining and padding that had previously always held jackets into their stiff form, Armani created a new, more fluid jacket that became wildly popular for both men and women.
Over the next decade, Armani continued to design clothes that were neutral in colour and often considered androgynous. However, as more and more women entered the workforce, Armani's clothing began to appeal to a wider audience. Whereas his critics saw his designs as understated, his customers saw them as subtle and elegant.
Armani's success with his initial lines enabled the pair to expand the venture, launching a chain of Emporio Armani stores around the world. These retail outlets focused on ready to wear clothes for the younger customer, and also stocked Armani's latest efforts into various other product areas, such as fragrances.
In 1985, at the age of 40, Galeotti died of AIDS. Speculation began to rise that Armani would soon retire. However, he chose to continue on, in memory of his partner. Armani stepped into the shoes of Galeotti, who had been in charge of the business side of the company, and continued to lead it to greater heights.
Despite receiving offers to form joint partnerships with the likes of Louis Vuitton and Gucci, Armani has retained total control of his company. Today, the Armani brand has grown to include much more than just clothing. Under its eight main labels, the company manufactures cosmetics, fragrances, home interiors, jewelry, watches and eyewear. In 2006, Forbes named Giorgio Armani the most successful Italian designer, with a personal net worth of $4.1 billion.
Re: The Best Method for Online Marketing
- Email marketing can be very successful there's little doubt about that. But you need to build a solid list of subscribers and build a strong relationship with them. It's all about give, give, give, and then you can promote something. Takes a lot of patience and hard work but it can definitely be worth it later on.
Who Said Twitter Doesn't Work.?
- Last month, the BBC World Service programme, The Strand, featured 21 year-old Icelandic pianist/composer Olafur Arnalds.
Arnalds achieved extraordinary success through his internet-led project to compose 7 tunes in 7 days, post them on his website and then post links to it via TWITTER. As a result his website got thousands of visitors eager to listen to his music, catapulting him to fame and bringing his music to the attention of the BBC, who featured an interview with him on the World Service programme, The Strand!
So who says Twitter doesn't work? (HINT: It does help if you have something uniquely your own that other people want to get hold of.)
Re: Exotic Tea Shop Website for Review
- Hi David,
- Background is nice and fitting, but I don't like the header. The title completely blends in with the background?
- About Us shouldn't be second from the left on the navigation bar. People read from left to right. The commercial intent is to buy, the online store should probably be second.
- Online Tea Store. too many choices without supplementary information. No description of product choice. oz and pricing should be stylized separately from the name of the product.
- Online Tea Store. Visuals is definitely very important in raising commercial intent. Someone who comes to the site through SEO is searching for exotic teas and not particulars. Meaning they're browsing. Text is not enough for a browsing shopper.
- World of Tea. the information can be organized a bit better. Again, visuals. Some of this info belongs to online tea store. I'm not too sure on the name.
- Tea Treasure. not sure on this name either. mainly because you have "World of Tea" next to it. Navigation should be transparent in conveying information to the users.