Elizabeth (Lizzie) Osterkamp, a young student from California and a fashion, travel and photography enthusiast, is fulfilling one of her dreams during her studies in Strategic Communication (University of Colorado, USA): to get to know – and be able to tell about – her experience in one of the world’s fashion cities, discovering her favourite fashion brands. Here she tells us about the Armani Brand Empire, between fashion, food and more.
“Giorgio Armani has built a wide brand portfolio based on his personality and identity which is seen all over Italy, Milan and other places around the world. His roots are Italian, so he has a loyal customer base throughout the country. When I walk along the streets of Milan, I am constantly seeing people wearing Armani, and when I landed in the Malpensa Airport, the first advertisement that I saw was for EA7, which is an athletic line by Emporio Armani. Part of his portfolio includes various clothing stores that cater to different audiences, hotels, restaurants, a night club, beauty, home and even a Nobu restaurant dedicated to Armani’s style.
If you are looking for more higher end handbags, couture clothes, shoes and makeup, Giorgio Armani is the place. Within their store near Via Montenapoleone on Via Sant’Andrea, they sell both womenswear and menswear. The store is innovative and has screens that constantly play videos of people wearing Giorgio Armani clothing, there is a big window display showing various pieces sold within the store, and the store has ‘G’ and ‘A’ shaped handles.
Two special services at this specific location include Made-to-Measure and Made-to-Order. The Made-to-Measure service is for men who are looking to customize a suit. They can choose everything from the fabric to the cut and more. The Made-to-Order is a service for women that allows them to create different types of clothes like pants and shirts and choose from a variety of fabrics. Make an appointment for both services on the Giorgio Armani website.
31 Via Alessandro Manzoni is a building that houses everything Armani and allows you to get a taste of all the different services and items that the brand has to offer. When I discovered this location, I was not expecting everything to be within one building. However, I quickly realized that there are multiple entrances located around the building. The first store that I walked into was the bookstore which carried everything from reading books to coffee table books. The next area, which is connected, was dedicated to flower arrangements, and next to that was a section to purchase boxed chocolates that have the letter ‘A’ on them.
After, I made my way to the Emporio Armani collection. This brand offers clothes at a slightly lower price than Giorgio Armani. The store has multiple floors and houses everything from handbags, shoes and clothes to beauty and accessories. When I left through one of the many exits, I found the other Armani establishments. These included the Emporio Armani Café, Nobu, Armani/Ristorante, Armani Bamboo Bar and the Armani hotel.
Located in a different part of Milan is Armani/Casa which offers home décor.
Lastly, located on Corso Vittorio Emanuele II, is the A/X Armani Exchange clothing store which offers clothes at a lower price then Emporio Armani and Giorgio Armani. This two-level store offers women’s clothing, shoes, handbags and sunglasses on the bottom floor and men’s clothing, shoes and accessories on the top floor. What I liked about this store was that all the clothes were arranged by color, so it was easy to navigate and find things that I enjoyed.”
 Osterkamp, a young student from California and a fashion, travel and photography enthusiast, tells us about the Armani Brand Empire.){kind=link}