Luxury houses are particularly vulnerable at these times because their identity is not only linked to the products but also to the personality and vision of the founder himself.
“Luxury brands are based on a specific creative vision,” he says Gregory Carpenterprofessor of marketing at the Kellogg School and an expert on luxury brands.
Armani explained this dependence, owning 99.9 percent of the company and continuing to insist, even close to his death at age 91, “As long as I’m here, I’m the boss.”
Carpenter describes the challenges of succession in luxury brands.
Why founders matter so much
Unlike mass-market companies such as Ford or General Motors, which are built on consumer insights, luxury brands begin with the creative vision of a founder. This vision becomes the essence of the brand itself.
“Luxury is the opposite. It’s like art—I create something that, when you see it, you say, ‘oh, that’s really cool, I’ve never thought of that before,'” says Carpenter.
This deep entanglement between creator and brand makes succession uniquely difficult. Chanel struggled for more than a decade after founder Coco Chanel died in 1971, only regaining its high-end status when Karl Lagerfeld became creative director in 1983 and revived the line.
But luxury is based on more than a designer’s creative vision. It also depends on buyers adopting and reinforcing the brand identity. In this sense, Armani excelled in promoting both definitive looks and celebrity.
“Every luxury brand is defined by its community,” says Carpenter. “Armani, in particular, was the cultivator of the community. If you Google Armani, most of the time you’ll see him standing with a celebrity on the red carpet.”
Other luxury houses have taken a similar approach. In the early 1960s, Enzo Ferrari’s most famous model – the 250 GTO – was built in a series of just 36 cars. Buyers It reportedly had to be personally approved by Ferrari itselfcreating an exclusive circle that enhanced the brand’s aura of rarity and status.
Armani’s innovation was to do something comparable in fashion, popularizing the red carpet moment as a stage for his clothes, making Hollywood celebrities part of his community and, in turn, his brand.
The bet of succession
Armani may have formulated a clear ownership plan in his will, naming preferred buyers such as LVMH, L’Oréal or Luxottica; depending on the decision of the executors to sell. LVMH bills itself as a “house of brands,” including Louis Vuitton, Tiffany and Marc Jacobs. Bernard Arnault, its longtime chief executive, has stressed the importance of giving designers creative freedom – an approach Carpenter sees as central to the group’s success.
But this also depends on the future creative direction that the company will choose. Whoever inherits the role of shaping the brand’s identity will need to evolve Armani’s legacy without betraying it.
“It’s a huge gamble… One of the biggest problems for luxury brands is managing their brand evolution,” says Carpenter.
Past transitions show how difficult this can be. Ferrari flourished long after Enzo’s death, with successors understanding what it meant to own a Ferrari while also modernizing the cars. Rolls-Royce, by contrast, has struggled to make its newest luxury vehicles feel like natural extensions of its heritage.
When a founder departs, luxury houses typically face two temptations. One is to pursue growth by broadening the reach — a move that can reduce exclusivity. Another is to hold fast to the familiar, repeating the same formulas until the brand feels frozen in time.
“Most species lack gasoline,” says Carpenter. “And because of that, they can’t find the next version of themselves. They become like their own tribute band.”
A third, often more successful path is reinvention — finding a new creative idea that moves the brand forward while staying true to its identity.
Gucci has experienced all three effects. Tom Ford revived the label in the 1990s, while subsequent directors struggled to keep the momentum going. Alessandro Michele has set a wave of growth with his imposing style, but Sales slowed before his departure in 2022. His successor, Sabato De Sarno, lasted just two years—a reminder of how difficult it is to maintain creative momentum.
Passing boats on the line
Some luxury houses endure by embedding their philosophy or art so deeply into the organization that it can be passed down like an heirloom. In these cases, continuity does not depend on a single founder, but on a shared vision and set of practices passed down from generation to generation.
“It takes a year and a half to learn the stitch to sew a Birkin bag,” says Carpenter, referring to Hermès’ artisan training program. Birkin, one of the most sought-after bags in the world, can sell for tens of thousands of dollars.
This kind of apprenticeship model is not unique. As Carpenter notes, some famous London tailors have trained craftsmen for more than a century, ensuring that the art of suit making remains essentially unchanged. By institutionalizing tradition, these brands have maintained their identity long after the founders themselves are gone.
But Armani’s special touch may be easier to carry ahead than that of some of his peers. As Carpenter argues, what set him apart was that he built his brand less around radical design than around community — pioneering the red carpet moment and weaving celebrity associations into the fabric of Armani’s identity.
“The great genius of Armani was to understand the power of celebrity,” says Carpenter.
This focus on association rather than just product offers clues to succession. Carpenter points to Rolex’s strategy of symbolic association rather than ostentatious design as a model for luxury brands. Rolex has been advertising for a long time Chuck YeagerThe 1947 supersonic flight, where the pilot is documented as wearing a Rolex Oyster, as a moment that helped connect the brand with human achievement.
For Armani, the lesson is similar. Carpenter says what might make succession easier for the brand is that Georgio Armani’s heirs need only continue to nurture that community, rather than invent a bold new vision for the brand’s clothing.
This question suggests a larger dilemma for any founding house: Can a brand outgrow its creator without losing its soul?
“The problem for Armani is how do you find someone who understands the brand and can create the future for this brand? That’s really hard,” says Carpenter.
