Key Takeaways:
On September 4, 2025, fashion designer Giorgio Armani, the maestro of elegance, passed away in Milan at the age of 91. His departure marked the end of an era, but his legacy in beauty and beyond will remain. Prominent figures across fashion and entertainment from Martin Scorsese to Donatella Versace, saluted him as a “visionary,” a pioneer whose discipline, creativity, and artistry transformed more than just clothing.
While Armani’s sartorial innovations have been widely celebrated, it is his contributions to beauty that quietly reshaped the industry. Armani introduced elegance, integrity, and innovation into every bottle, jar, and brushstroke.
His beauty empire, launched through a licensing agreement with L’Oréal in 1988, is today one of the crown jewels of the French conglomerate's luxury portfolio. What began as an extension of his fashion house has grown into a multimillion-dollar enterprise, anchored in principles of simplicity, refinement, and innovation.
Building Beauty as Business
When Armani teamed up with L’Oréal almost four decades ago, few could have predicted the long-term impact his visions would have on the cosmetics industry. The deal represented one of the earliest examples of a designer brand scaling beauty globally through a licensing model. The strategy proved prescient, and Armani Beauty became not just a fashion accessory but a standalone powerhouse.
Today, Armani Beauty operates in over 100 countries, with key franchises such as Luminous Silk, Acqua di Giò, and My Way, delivering steady growth for L’Oréal Luxe.
“Giorgio Armani was, without question, one of the greatest creators of the last hundred years,” said Jean-Paul Agon, Chairman, and Nicolas Hieronimus, Chief Executive Officer of L’Oréal, in a joint statement. “He didn’t just conceive unique, original, and timeless fashion; he was also a formidable entrepreneur who built one of the most important couture and luxury houses known today.”
Beauty from Within
Armani’s philosophy was never rooted in artifice or masking. “I believe that beauty comes from within. My creations are not made to disguise or hide an individual's personality, but to reveal it,” the designer once famously said. Armani was dedicated to crafting products that enhanced, rather than hid, embracing inner confidence as the definition of beauty.
For Armani, beauty was never about spectacle but instead subtlety and authenticity. He articulated this ethos by insisting, “What I really dislike is the fact that today fashion is mostly about entertainment and communication, sometimes to the detriment of the product. Let’s not forget that we are here to dress people with something authentic, useful, and beautiful.” In the context of beauty, his creations consistently favored substance over flash.
Few beauty products embody Armani’s philosophy better than the iconic Luminous Silk foundation. Introduced in 2000, the product is considered one of the most influential complexion products of the past quarter-century. Makeup artist Linda Cantello, Armani’s longtime collaborator, recalled, “He would send a formula back again and again and again to labs until he got exactly the quality he wanted.” Such meticulousness ensured Armani products commanded a premium in the beauty market.
Fragrance is, of course, another strategic pillar of Armani Beauty. Acqua di Giò, launched in 1996, remains one of the top-selling men’s fragrances several years later. On the women’s side, Sí, introduced in 2013, has grown into a powerhouse franchise in its own right. With multiple iterations—Sí Passione, Sí Intense, Sí Fiori—the line has struck a timeless elegance, creating cultural resonance and commercial longevity.
The fragrance category as a whole showed exceptional performance for L’Oréal Luxe in 2024, delivering +14% sales growth, driven by both masculine and feminine blockbusters. By building enduring franchises instead of chasing fleeting trends, Armani Beauty established the kind of recurring revenue streams most beauty brands aspire to have.
Sustainability as Strategy
For Armani, it wasn’t enough for his beauty line to just look good; it also had to do good. Armani’s brand adopted eco-conscious practices that predated industry trends, weaving sustainability into the core of its business long before it was a corporate buzzword. As noted on the Armani Beauty website, “Nature is the closest form of perfection,” and its beauty line embraces sustainability through refillable packaging, recyclable materials, and responsibly sourced ingredients.
The My Way fragrance achieved carbon neutrality from inception, with the brand launching a five-year plan in 2020 to reduce its carbon footprint by a further 25%, hoping to achieve full product carbon neutrality by 2025.
The Acqua for Life initiative, which has invested €15 million ($13 million) to bring clean water to more than 590,000 people in 23 countries globally, links Armani’s reigning fragrance franchise to a philanthropic mission. “Water is perhaps the element that I feel closest to … Access to clean water is undoubtedly one of the greatest challenges in the 21st century,” he previously noted.
A Masterclass in Brand Positioning
Armani’s ability to align fashion, fragrance, and makeup into one coherent brand vision is part of what made the business so resilient. “From the elitism of luxury to the democracy of beauty,” he once remarked, highlighting his belief that beauty should be aspirational yet accessible. This positioning allowed Armani Beauty to serve both as a gateway to the brand for younger consumers and a reinforcement of luxury for established clientele.
Celebrity partnerships further bolstered the brand's cultural capital. Cate Blanchett, Tessa Thompson, Zendaya, and Regé-Jean Page all fronted Armani campaigns, embodying what Armani himself described as “a kaleidoscope of modern elegance.” These carefully chosen ambassadors helped the business stay relevant across generations and geographies.
Armani’s most radical business achievement was perhaps his independence. While nearly every other major fashion house sold to conglomerates and retreated, Armani retained full ownership of his empire. This independence extended to his beauty licensing strategy, where he maintained a hands-on role in product development and brand storytelling.
The Financial Footprint
The numbers underscore Armani’s impact. While his fashion house generated €2.3 billion ($2.7 billion) in 2024 annual revenue, the beauty arm has been more influential in terms of global scale. For L’Oréal Luxe, Armani Beauty is a cornerstone driving growth across fragrance, complexion, and skincare. Analysts note that Armani’s steady franchise helped anchor the division's performance during turbulent years, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the competitive world of beauty, where many launches flare and fade, Armani’s emphasis on timeless products created enduring profit centers.
Final Reflection
As several tributes pour in, the lasting tribute will be the ongoing strength of the Armani Beauty business. For L’Oréal, the luxury sector, and the beauty industry at large, Armani’s model offers a blueprint: a disciplined focus on quality, an unshakeable brand vision, and a commitment that beauty should endure, not expire.
As Armani once said, “Elegance is not about being noticed but about being remembered.” In business, as in beauty, this philosophy shaped everything he built. His beauty empire was not designed for quick wins, but instead, permanence, profitability, and purpose.
