‘Emotional’, ‘end of an era’: Thousands pay respects to Italian designer Giorgio Armani
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Italian designer Giorgio Armani’s coffin placed on view at Teatro Armani, the company’s Milan headquarters, and surrounded by lanterns with an image of him on a big screen on Sept 6.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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MILAN – Thousands of mourners paid homage on Sept 6 to Italian fashion legend Giorgio Armani, who died this week aged 91, as his coffin was placed on view to let the public pay their last respects to him in Milan.
Italian fashion icon Donatella Versace was among those who filed past Mr Armani’s closed casket at the headquarters of his multi-billion-euro lifestyle company, which marked its 50th anniversary in 2025.
Adorned with a bouquet of white roses, the designer’s closed wooden casket was laid out in a darkened room lit by paper lanterns, with an image of Mr Armani shown on a big screen.
Mr Armani died on Sept 4
Hundreds of people queued up for the start of the two-day public viewing at the Teatro Armani, the company’s minimalist but luxurious headquarters in Milan.
Among the first mourners through the door was a group of Armani group staff, all in black mourning wear and black sunglasses.
Designer Giorgio Armani’s wooden coffin on Sept 6 at Teatro Armani was closed, with white roses placed on it.
PHOTO: REUTERS
“It’s so emotional,” said Ms Silvia Albonetti, an Emporio Armani saleswoman. “He was an incredible man... sometimes rude, but human.”
Tributes flooded in for Mr Armani following his death on Sept 4 from across the fashion industry and also Hollywood, where his understated but exquisitely tailored creations were beloved of the A-list.
Ferrari executive chairman John Elkann was also among the mourners on Sept 6, many of whom were greeted near the coffin by Mr Armani’s partner Pantaleo Dell’Orco.
Throughout his remarkable career, Mr Armani kept top-to-bottom control of his company as it moved from fashion into luxury hotels, cosmetics, accessories and interiors.
When he died, he was one of the richest men in the world, with a net worth estimated at US$11.8 billion (S$15.14 billion), according to Forbes magazine.
Fashion student Pietro Angeleri, 20, told AFP as he queued to pay his last respects: “Every fashion show (Armani did) was pure magic. No one has managed to make women stand out like he did. He will be missed.”
People queueing to pay tribute to designer Giorgio Armani, whose coffin was placed on view at the Teatro Armani in Milan on Sept 6.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Liver problems
The company has not revealed the cause of Mr Armani’s death, but Italy’s Corriere della Sera newspaper reported on Sept 6 he had been suffering from liver failure.
He was hospitalised with viral bronchopneumonia in June in Milan, it said, which left him weakened, even if he seemed to recover.
Mr Armani cancelled his menswear show in Milan earlier in 2025 due to health reasons, and also missed the Paris Armani Prive show on doctors’ orders.
After his 91st birthday on July 11, which he celebrated with a small family party, longstanding problems with his liver returned, the Corriere said.
He had kept working almost to the end, finalising outfits for the show celebrating his 50th anniversary at Milan Fashion Week at the end of September – which will now act as his final farewell.
‘Protecting what he built’
Born in Piacenza in northern Italy, the young Mr Armani first enrolled in medical school but moved into fashion after a stint as a window dresser at a Milan department store.
By 1973, Mr Armani had opened his own Milan design studio and created his debut eponymous collection in 1975.
The city, which adopted him as its own, has declared the day of his funeral a day of mourning, although the ceremony itself is strictly private.
Armani “represented our city”, said Ms Fanny Bucci, a 55-year-old local who viewed the coffin on Sept 6. “It’s the end of an era.”
The Italian icon was credited with inventing red-carpet fashion after he opened an office in Los Angeles in 1983 with the aim of dressing celebrities, and said cinema provided him with a constant source of inspiration.
“He reinforced the image of Italian design. And I saw pictures of him as a child in China – he was the first Italian I knew,” said Chinese student Jonah Liu, 29, wearing a T-shirt adorned with Mr Armani’s image.
Mr Armani had no children, and his death leaves a question mark over the future of his empire.
In his final interview published just days before his death, he name checked Mr Dell’Orco, who heads Mr Armani’s men’s style office, among family and close friends to whom he was gradually transferring responsibility.
His nieces Roberta and Silvana Armani work for the group, while his nephew Andrea Camerana is a board member.
In their statement marking his death, his family and employees committed “to protecting what he built and to carrying his company forward in his memory”.
The public viewing will last all day on both Sept 6 and Sept 7 at the Teatro, a former Nestle chocolate factory where Mr Armani showcased his creations. AFP
