What Lawyers Could Learn from Fashion’s Last Emperor

Norma Harris, Contributing writer

Giorgio Armani died last week at 91, still clutching the reins of his $12 billion empire like a silk-suited Napoleon. While the fashion world mourns the loss of its most stubborn perfectionist, lawyers—those other merchants of expensive suits—might want to examine what the Italian maestro got right about building lasting success in an industry obsessed with trends.

If you’re going to take life advice from anyone, it might as well be the man who convinced Hollywood that grey could be sexier than black, built a global brand without losing control to private equity vultures, and worked until his final day despite being richer than most small nations.

The Late Bloomer’s Manifesto

Here’s the first dose of uncomfortable truth: Armani didn’t launch his fashion house until he was 41. Before that, he was a window dresser at La Rinascente department store, learning textiles from scratch and sketching designs with no formal training.

“It’s never too late to start,” he proved, transforming from retail nobody to fashion royalty. Meanwhile, half the legal profession seems convinced that missing partnership by 35 equals career death. Armani’s trajectory suggests otherwise—perhaps that mid-career pivot to boutique practice or in-house role isn’t professional suicide after all.

His advice was characteristically blunt: “Work hard and possibly harder, believe in your ideas, [then] work a bit harder, and you’ll get to the top. Even if you don’t get to the top, there’s nothing to worry about. Being true to oneself is the best reward”.

Armani never sold out to the fashion conglomerates. Independence meant slower growth, but it also meant survival while flashier brands collapsed. Financial Times reports that Armani’s independence has become a case study in resilience.

Law firms, forever trying to merge, splinter, or “pivot,” might take note. Building a culture with spine beats chasing the merger-of-the-month headlines. Armani’s lesson is that staying power isn’t sexy — but it works.

Perfection Is the Enemy of Good (Unless You’re Armani)

“I’m never satisfied,” Armani famously declared. “In fact, as someone who perpetually dissatisfied and obsessive in his pursuit of perfection, I never relent until I achieve the results I desire”.

This wasn’t just designer pretension, but it was also a business strategy. While competitors chased quarterly trends, Armani spent decades perfecting a single vision: “The law of luxury is not to add, but to take away”.

He built his empire on the radical notion that less could be more, that understated elegance trumped flashy excess.

For lawyers drowning in billable hour requirements, there’s a lesson here about sustainable excellence. Armani didn’t perfect his craft by working faster; he worked more thoughtfully. “To create something exceptional, your mindset must be relentlessly focused on the smallest detail”.

Discipline Over Drama

Armani’s mantra has always been order. He arrived at the office at 9am, sharp, in a city where tardiness is an art form. Contrast that with partners who lurch into 11am Zoom calls like they’ve been waterboarded by their own associates.

For Armani, discipline wasn’t about rigidity, it was about clarity.

In law, clarity is a rarer commodity than honesty. If Armani could keep his empire polished for decades, maybe firms can survive without yet another “strategic review.”

The Art of Saying No

Perhaps Armani’s most lawyer-relevant wisdom: “Style is having the courage of one’s choices and the courage to say no. It’s good taste and culture”.

The man who dressed Richard Gere in American Gigolo understood that reputation isn’t built by taking every client or case that walks through the door. “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”.

Consider this against the backdrop of BigLaw’s commoditization problem. While firms chase the latest practice area du jour—crypto law! ESG compliance! AI ethics!—Armani spent 50 years perfecting tailoring. His advice: find your expertise, refine it obsessively, and resist the urge to diversify into mediocrity.

Comfort Without Compromise

“Emphasize comfort without compromise,” Armani insisted. He revolutionized menswear by removing the rigid structure from suits, creating clothes that moved with the body rather than constraining it. The principle applies beyond fabric: sustainable success requires systems that work with human nature, not against it.

The legal profession’s relationship with work-life balance remains medievally dysfunctional, treating burnout as a badge of honor rather than a business problem. Armani’s approach—creating luxury that felt effortless—suggests an alternative: build practices that deliver exceptional results without destroying the people who create them.

Crisis as Catalyst

Armani’s biography reads like a masterclass in adversity management. A childhood explosion nearly cost him his eyesight. His father was imprisoned during World War II. Most devastatingly, his business and life partner Sergio Galeotti died of AIDS in 1980, just five years after they founded the company.

“Many of Armani’s associates departed the firm as a result, believing he couldn’t produce on his own,” but the setbacks only strengthened his resolve.

“We are living through truly difficult times,” he reflected in his final interview. “The only advice I can give is that with wisdom and heart, we can overcome any situation, although not without hardship and suffering. The best approach is to tackle things one at a time”.

For a profession that treats every market downturn like an existential crisis, Armani’s resilience offers perspective: focus on what you can control, tackle problems sequentially, and remember that the best careers are built over decades, not quarters.

The Succession Question

Armani maintained total creative and financial control of his company until death—a feat that would make most founding partners weep with envy. His succession planning was meticulous including bylaws designating trusted family members and collaborators, clear governance structures, and a foundation to preserve his legacy.

The lesson isn’t about hoarding power, but about intentional transition planning.

“Elegance is not about being noticed, it’s about being remembered,” he once said. The firms that endure aren’t those with the flashiest marketing budgets, but those that build institutional knowledge and client relationships that survive their founders.

The Takeaway

Giorgio Armani spent seven decades proving that excellence isn’t about following formulas—it’s about developing judgment, refining craft, and maintaining standards when everyone else is cutting corners. His final interview revealed his only regret: not having more time.

For lawyers, the message may be clear: stop chasing every trend, master your fundamentals, and remember that sustainable success requires the courage to disappoint clients who want quick fixes rather than quality solutions.

The man who made minimalism revolutionary didn’t need complicated strategies or innovation theater. He just refused to compromise on the things that mattered.

That’s a legacy worth tailoring.