Meet the heirs to Giorgio Armani's fashion empire

The Italian fashion designer Giorgio Armani died Thursday at the age of 91, leaving behind a 50-year legacy and a billion-dollar company.

Armani formed the Giorgio Armani brand in 1975 with $10,000 in seed funding, alongside his late partner Sergio Galeotti. The designer rose to prominence in the 80s and 90s, leading the charge in women’s power-suit dressing and restructuring traditional men’s suits with a more relaxed design that changed modern suit making. 

A favorite in Hollywood, the Armani label made regular appearances on the red carpet, from Julia Roberts’ off-the-rack men’s Armani suit at the 1990 Golden Globes to Lady Gaga’s custom black lace, long-sleeved Armani Privé gown at the 2018 Grammy Awards. Armani also costumed more than 200 films including “Goodfellas” and “Wolf of Wall Street.” 

Until his death, Armani remained the creative director, CEO, and sole shareholder of his company which generated 2.3 billion euros ($2.7 billion) in revenue last year, Reuters reported. He was known for keeping a tight grip on operations. Though he was at home due to illness in his final days, he oversaw the company’s 50th-anniversary celebration plans via video calls, from fittings to makeup, he told the Financial Times. 

“My greatest weakness is that I am in control of everything,” he said.

Armani had no children, so his passing calls to question who will take the reins of his company. Parts of his succession plan are known to the public, while other details will be revealed in his will. His right-hand man and head of men’s design, Pantaleo Dell’Orco, will likely take a major role, along with members of Armani’s family. 

Just days before his death, Armani spoke to the Financial Times about the future of his company. “My plans for succession consist of a gradual transition of the responsibilities that I have always handled to those closest to me,” he said in the interview, “such as Leo Dell’Orco, the members of my family and the entire working team.” 

Here’s what we know about the heirs to the Giorgio Armani fashion empire.

Pantaleo Dell'Orco and Giorgio Armani in 2024. (Alfonso Cannavacciuolo/Euroleague Basketball via Getty Images)

Pantaleo Dell’Orco began working for the company two years after its inception, CNN reported. He became a great support for Armani through Galeotti’s death in 1985.

"After Sergio’s death, he has been the closest person to me,” Armani told CNN in 2022. “He gave me an incredible psychological support, practical as well as workwise.”

Since then, the two shared what Armani called a “lifelong partnership” in interviews. Dell’Orco worked alongside Armani for more than 45 years and became the head of the men’s design department.

In recent years, Dell’Orco joined Armani at the end of each fashion show for the signature bow. When Armani missed two menswear shows at Milan fashion week in June due to illness, Dell’Orco bowed in his stead, WWD reported.  

Armani wore a diamond ring on his left ring finger that Dell'Orco had gifted him, People reported. 

Giorgio Armani and Rosanna Armani in 2007. (Venturelli/WireImage)

Giorgio Armani had two siblings, an older brother Sergio and younger sister Rosanna. 

Rosanna is an actress and starred in Armani’s 1979 spring/summer campaign, US Weekly reported.

Silvana Armani , Giorgio Armani, and Roberta Armani in 2001. (KMazur / Getty Images)

Armani’s niece Silvana worked alongside him in designing the women's collections. She has been the head of the women's design department. 

Roberta is also an actress and in a 2007 interview with TIME, she said she was the head of global and VIP communications at the Armani Group, a role that involved determining what celebrities got to wear the designer’s clothes. “Indeed, one of her first tasks as an Armani employee was to take Leonardo DiCaprio out clubbing in New York City when he was just 17,” the article said. 

“We were born with Armani in our blood, and we will die in an Armani Casa tomb!” Roberta told the magazine. 

Roberta Armani, Andrea Camerana, and Silvana Armani in 2023. (John Phillips/Getty Images for Beaver Lake Pictures)

According to his LinkedIn profile, Camerana has worked at the family company for 25 years. 

Rosanna, Silvana, Roberta, and Andrea are all board members and are all expected to take over parts of the fashion label, according to 2016 court documents reviewed by Reuters. The documents formed bylaws that divide the company's share capital into six categories with different voting rights and powers.

Giorgio Armani in 1995. (Vittoriano Rastelli/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)

In 2016, Armani set up a foundation in his name to safeguard the company’s independence and ensure a smooth succession plan. It currently holds a 0.1% stake in the Armani Group, but is expected to gain a larger stake after his death, according to an Italian newspaper interview with the designer cited by Reuters.

"A likely future scenario is for the Armani business to be enshrined in (the) foundation, in an arrangement similar to luxury watchmaker Rolex," luxury analyst Luca Solca told Reuters. Since 1960, Rolex has been owned by the Hans Wilsdorf Foundation, a private family trust named after its founder.