Romeo Gigli has been described as "the minimalist of fashion," "the master of understatement," the "romantic intellectual."

Gigli's distinctive style is characterized by a close fit that follows the lines of the body, soft, romantic draping, a tendency towards asymmetry, an overall look of grace and fluidity. His colors are muted but rich: deep blues, gray-greens, rose pinks, saffron, mole brown, claret red, moss green, often touched with delicate gold brocade, rich Indian embroideries, filigrees of pearls, teardrops of Venetian glass.

As Romeo Gigli comes from a wealthy aristocratic family, he draws on a rich culture imbibed from the 20,000 rare antiquarian books in his bibliophile father's library and on his many travels to the East. His muses are the Empress Theodora from Byzantium, the young and beautiful women depicted in the mosaics of Ravenna's Byzantine churches, and Piero della Francesca's virginal beauties.