Being Armani: An Autobiography by Renata Molho, Antony Shugaar (Editor)

Product Details

Synopsis

Recounting the 30 years that turned Giorgio Armani into an international fashion icon, this investigation of the man and the myth he built around himself explores how he maintained a distinct identity in an industry built upon rapid changes. Written with the designer’s cooperation and access to his personal archives, Armani’s story is accurately rendered, from his modest beginnings and early home environment to the influences and colleagues who helped build his name. Yet ultimately, this is the story of a man with an innate sense of style and unmatched entrepreneurial strategy, both of which allowed him to create a new way of thinking—an aesthetic genre that went beyond a world of appearance and clothing—that single-handedly changed the face of fashion forever.

Publishers Weekly

Before he became an icon, fashion designer Georgio Armani grew up in a middle-class family and studied medicine, falling into fashion largely by chance: "In my beginnings, there was no fire in the belly for fashion. I really didn't want to do fashion at all," he says. In this honest, insightful biography, Italian fashion critic (and former contributor to Italian GQ and Vogue) Molho follows Armani from his childhood in Piacenza, Italy during WWII, through his induction into the industry, the challenges of establishing Emperio Armani S.p.A. in 1975, to ultimate success and fame. Although Armani's accomplishments bring him a luxury lifestyle, his early years are wrenching, as is the 1985 death of his beloved partner, Sergio Galeotti, a loss that nearly took him back to square one. Throughout, Molho poignantly illustrates the balance between Armani's obsession with work (where he's a self-described "tyrant") and his private life as a kind, introverted man who wishes he were less shy. Molho may leave readers wanting more personal details, but the glimpses he digs up are telling, as in Armani's open exchange with Eric Clapton from a 1995 GQ interview. 64 pages color photos.
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Biography

Renata Molho is a fashion critic for the daily financial newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore, and a former contributor to many publications of the Condé Nast group, including the Italian editions of GQ and Vogue.