Italian fashion designer Giorgio Armani to be laid to rest in private funeral
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Right up to his death, Italian fashion designer Giorgio Armani was working on an exhibition and a fashion show for Milan Fashion Week in late September.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Follow topic:
RIVALTA, Italy – Family members and close friends were set to gather in a private funeral on Sept 8 for Mr Giorgio Armani, the legendary Italian fashion designer died last week at the age of 91
Mr Armani will be laid to rest next to his parents and older brother in a family chapel in Rivalta, a village about 100km south-east of Milan and near the city where he was born, Piacenza.
In a mark of respect, Armani stores will close in the afternoon.
“We will say goodbye to him as a family and then move forward as he would have wanted. Everything is ready to remember him with his fashion,” his partner Pantaleo Dell’Orco was quoted as saying by Corriere della Sera daily.
Right up to his death, Mr Armani was working on a retrospective exhibition and a fashion show to celebrate 50 years of being in business, during Milan Fashion Week in late September. His company has to date not announced any changes to the programme.
Mourners clapping as a hearse carrying the coffin with the body of designer Giorgio Armani leaves the Armani headquarters in Milan on Sept 7.
PHOTO: REUTERS
The designer’s death was announced on Sept 4, sparking an outpouring of international grief, with tributes flowing in from Hollywood stars, sporting champions, business and political leaders, and members of the public.
Over the weekend, thousands came to pay their respects to the man known as “Re Giorgio (King Giorgio in Italian)“ as his wooden casket, adorned with white roses, was placed on view at Armani’s headquarters in Milan.
“I feel very saddened, because he was a man of great style who, of course, has left an indelible mark... We are definitely losing a great – truly great – talent,” Milan resident Alessandra Torchio said on Sept 8.
People with placards queueing outside the Armani headquarters in Milan on Sept 7 to pay their last respects to designer Giorgio Armani.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Mr Armani died after a five-decade career in which he built a business empire spanning haute couture to home furnishing, with his name becoming synonymous with elegant simplicity.
He had no children but worked with a trusted group of family members and long-term confidants who are expected to carry on running the business over which he exercised tight control. REUTERS
