To create something exceptional, your mindset must be relentlessly focused on the smallest detail.
Giorgio Armani
Jeans represent democracy in fashion.
I've always thought of the T-shirt as the Alpha and Omega of the fashion alphabet.
The difference between style and fashion is quality.
This is very much my philosophy as a fashion designer. I have never believed in design for design's sake. For me, the most important thing is that people actually wear my clothes. I do not design for the catwalk or for magazine shoots - I design for customers.
I must always try to do better because perfectionism, and the need to always have new goals and achieve them, is a state of mind that brings profound meaning to life.
I love things that age well - things that don't date, that stand the test of time and that become living examples of the absolute best.
There can be nothing without love. No money, no power. Love is very important. When you wake up in the morning, you need to know that somebody else is waking up, thinking of you.
This is the problem with the world today: Nobody wants to take risks, to risk being themselves.
Creative work gives you an almost indissoluble connection with people.
I am not in the stock market. I am beholden to no one in what I do. If I spend billions on a fashion show, I spend billions. It's not public. And if I am in the stock market, I am obligated to account for things, and to show what the business is doing.
I dress in my 'uniform,' or my own dress code, which reflects my personal method and work ethic. My belief is that my plain T-shirt - I have about 40 of them - or blue sweater helps focus others' attention on me and on what I say.
It's not a good idea to match your shoes with a bag too stringently. Go for subtle similarity.
I design for real people. I think of our customers all the time. There is no virtue whatsoever in creating clothing or accessories that are not practical.
I believe that my clothes can give people a better image of themselves - that it can increase their feelings of confidence and happiness.
A well-maintained physique is a great business card. Ideas and intelligence are what matters, but if you have a well-maintained physique, it's better.
I don't have a formula to pass on. I always did it my own way. Even today, I hold my independence close. It's what's most precious to me. Passion. Risk. Tenacity. Consistency. This is my professional history.
Marketing is not a nice word, but the world is about marketing now.
The essence of style is a simple way of saying something complex.
A homosexual man is a man 100 per cent. He does not need to dress homosexual.
I prefer to look at a natural woman. A woman should be courageous to become older, not desperate to look younger than her age.
Never in my wildest dreams did I entertain the idea that I would become a fashion designer.
In practice, I've had a presence in China since 1998 with my commercial spaces and shops.
Why do I put myself in a position to be cast aside or not considered as I would like to? Because I am a creative mind, because I still aspire to be one.
That is always what I've had to do in life: to show I am capable of surviving.
I learned little by little. I learned how to draw. I learned how to tell the difference in the quality of fabrics - the subtle differences. I started with collections for men. So my first collection for women was deeply inspired by male roles.
You can think you've made it and yet the next day's press will always be waiting for you, the public will always ask more of you. In short, you can always do better!
There are so many things to take into account - your ambition, your ego, the press, the consumers. You can never be sure that you'll be on top of the pile again.
I wanted to dress the woman who lives and works, not the woman in a painting.
Anyone who is passionate about what they do will have a better chance of connecting with future generations than those who simply follow transient trends. At least their work will have a distinctive character, and this is what people respond to, I believe.
During a fashion show, I want the clothes to speak. The effort I put into my work must be respected.
I have always considered that my collection must have an international flair so it can be at the service of the European public. Or to people in Asia. Yes, there are tiny little alterations I notice in the proportions of the outfits, but fundamentally, the collection is that way.
Milan is a true metropolis: strong and fearless but welcoming, too. Little by little, I came to realize that I could become someone here.
Actually I am very glad that people can buy Armani - even if it's a fake. I like the fact that I'm so popular around the world.
I must make decisions every five minutes and give the impression of being sure of myself! Sincerely, this is the cause of my verbal violence.
When I started, I had nothing. Because my family was really, really, really poor.
I started to take care of my body after I turned 50. I never liked how I looked physically because I was too cute, short, with coloring only on my cheeks, the perfect little nose, and then the blue eyes. I was a hit with girls, who told me it was like I was in Technicolor.
My work has taught me to pay great respects towards human beings.
I don't like women who follow fashion in the sense of becoming victims of it. I like women who have elegance, who have allure, who use fashion, rather than the other way around.
The idea of the museum is to show my work since the start, and I wanted to show all of it, not just to choose between different pieces. They are grouped together in themes - minimalism, androgyny, black and white, graphic, flowers, and so on - from the earliest designs to the most recent ones.
I was an observer. I liked to listen rather than openly express myself. This trait is something that I've retained over the years.
China approaches fashion with strong enthusiasm. And I believe that this enthusiasm can be translated into something interesting, economically speaking. Not only for my brand, but also for other brands.
War taught me that not everything is glamorous.
My well-known aesthetic sense, which is so obvious and personal, spontaneously spurs me to challenge myself with different disciplines.
I didn't have a happy childhood.
There are always protests, whether you do something good or bad. Even if you do something beneficial, people say you do it because it's advertising.
It is difficult to talk about fashion in the abstract, without a human body before my eyes, without drawings, without a choice of fabric - without a practical or visual reality.
I'm a very private person, and perhaps this can be mistaken for aloofness.
In the fashion world, you have to make clothes to sell. You have to make clothes for the press. You have to make clothes for yourself. What I mean is, everything is an obligation. But a writer? A pure artist? Maybe he doesn't make one lira - but he does what he wants.
You have to have doubts. I have collaborators I work with. I listen, and then I decide. That's how it works.
