Armani is known as a tireless worker who diligently oversees every detail of his operation, from small adjustments in the design of a single garment to international financial deals. So intimately has he been involved in every phase of the business that in recent years industry observers have been speculating on whether the Armani empire can survive without Armani himself.

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Since 1999 he has received offers from LVMH (Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy) and Gucci to form joint partnerships in which Armani would retain creative control of his fashion line but cede the business operation. This side of the business is also intensely personal to Armani, however, since taking up the role formerly played by Galeotti helped him get over his partner's death. Armani has resisted all offers from other companies.

Armani stated in 2001 that he was "working on a structure that will allow [the company] to go on--a team of people that could go on without me." It appears that the team may include two of his nieces who have become part of his inner circle at the company.

The beginning of Armani's rise to prominence coincided with that of fellow countryman Gianni Versace. The two designers' approaches to fashion were markedly different: Versace showed overtly sexy clothes while Armani's designs conveyed a subtle and elegant sensuality. During the 1990s there was a rather hostile rivalry between the two Milan fashion houses, but after Versace's murder in 1997 Armani sought to gloss over the unpleasantness, saying that he considered Versace a sincere person who simply had different ideas about women's fashions.

Armani's view is that fashion should evolve rather than change radically from year to year. He commented in 2003 that he had "always tried to do things that are new but that can be combined with what you've already got in your wardrobe." His emphasis has consistently been on the classic and the elegant, gently draped soft fabrics, and meticulously designed details such as exquisite beadwork.

On the occasion of Armani's twenty-fifth anniversary as a designer in 2000 the Guggenheim Museum in New York mounted an exhibition of his work. The show later traveled to the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain and to Berlin.

In a 2001 interview Armani was asked about the greatest failure of his career. He dismissed fashion lines or merchandising ideas that did not work--although he had relatively few of those--as "normal things." "Perhaps the greatest failure," he replied, "was not being able to stop my partner from dying."

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