On September 28th, Milan Fashion Week, an institution that Giorgio Armani not only served and supported, but defined with his vision and work, was planning to honor King Giorgio, as he was called in Italy. At the Brera Gallery, on the sidelines of the exhibition with 150 creations from the Italian designer's archive, the spring/summer 2026 collection would be shown, which would also bring the curtain down on the shows.

It was his countrymen's way of honoring the milestone of 50 years of the Italian designer (and demonic businessman) in fashion. Armani, who according to the simple announcement issued for his death died working until his last days, as he himself said in his interviews that he wished to happen, will not be there de facto. At least as a physical presence. And this will be the first time that things will happen without him having the first and last word.

The last show

Armani, a disciplined man, focused to the point of monomania on his work and by his own admission concentrated, was not used to losing or canceling his performances. For perhaps the only time in his life that he was forced to postpone his plans, one should look back to his childhood in Piacenza, where he was born and raised. It was in the midst of World War II when the local priest had promised Giorgio and his siblings Sergio and Rosanna that he would give them the town square to put on a puppet show.

The three brothers set to work. They made the dolls, dressed them in clothes sewn from whatever scraps and rags they could find, and even made 150 improvised tickets for prospective spectators. However, the performance never took place, due to the advance of Allied troops towards the city.

This is one of the many stories that Giorgio Armani selected from his treasure trove of memories and shared in his interviews. Not by chance – after all, nothing in his life was left to chance or fate. His childhood, which was marked by deprivation of material goods, fear of the uncertain future, the gloom of World War II and fascism, and a rather emotionally sterile relationship with his parents, shaped the way he later positioned himself not only towards the world but also within fashion.

The Italian designer who dressed the world more with the mind than with emotion paid attention to details that seemed insignificant but profoundly influenced his worldview.

Giorgio from Piacenza

He talked about the stove that burned in their family home, about the faded work uniform of his accountant father, about the clothes that his mother recycled due to poor finances and wore at different times in her life, about his cotton children's blanket with the small embroidered flowers. Or about that bag of gunpowder that a friend of his had found and that almost cost him his life, when the gunpowder ignited and Armani found himself bedridden in the hospital for many weeks.

He often mentioned his grandfather, a theater craftsman who made wigs for local troupes, in his conversations. Thanks to him, he came into contact with art from a very young age. It was a vast and wonderful world in his eyes, as was cinema, which he saw as a refuge - metaphorically and literally -, but Armani was forced to swallow his artistic impulse and, following his father's suggestion, choose a profession with social prestige and professional security for his livelihood.

Fashion anatomist

For three years, from 1953 to 1956, he studied at the Medical School of Milan – perhaps that is where the root of the surgical way he did things lies – but he dropped out and decided to get rid of his military obligations. Incidentally, in his childhood, one of his improvised games was to make mud dolls inside whose bodies he hid coffee beans.

It was a rudimentary anatomy lesson, his first contact with the human body, its silhouette and forms. He served his military service, due to his previous training, in the hospital of Verona. The performances he had the opportunity to attend at the famous festival of the city became a dowry that he carried for the rest of his life.

One would expect that the life story of a man we knew as a legend of fashion and business – it is recalled that Armani had expanded his activity into beauty, design and home products, into restaurants, hotels, and even flower shops and had a personal fortune of 12 billion dollars according to Forbes – would evolve linearly. However, it took almost twenty years before he decided to invest in his talent, or rather, to trust it, and finally build the empire we all know today.

A significant relationship

From the late 1950s he began working as a salesman and window dresser in department stores. Later he was hired as a designer by the house of Nino Cerruti, while his creativity and growing reputation made him sought after by other designers, for whom he worked as a freelancer. Probably none of what we know about him today would have happened if in the mid-1960s he had not met the undisputedly most decisive person for his life and career. His relationship – professional and personal – with the architect Sergio Galeotti became the fuse for his very personal cosmogony.

On July 11, 1975, Giorgio Armani celebrated his 39th birthday. Thirteen days later, on July 24, he founded the house we all know today with the capital he had collected from the sale of his Scarab, which he parted with a heavy heart. If he himself was the brains, Galeotti, his life partner and secret collaborator, was the soul of a project that even the most daring mind could not foresee how and how much it would grow.

In the fall of that year, Armani presented his first men's collection, while he had already begun creating women's collections. Where did he establish his success? In the deconstruction of the classic, traditional, stereotypical suit.

The father of the power suit

He removed the padding from the jackets, widened the lines on the trousers, revised and softened the hitherto sacred and sacred color palette – many find in the soft colors he adopted references to the nature and architecture of his birthplace. Above all, he succeeded in creating a new dress code. A new language of communication.

He gave men and women a comfortable, abstract yet emphatic work outfit before they could even articulate that they needed it. Just as Coco Chanel found her place in fashion history with the little black dress, so Armani conquered the show with his own grace in the power suit.

In 1985, even though the brand was already well-established, Armani was called upon to deal with the greatest loss of his life, which brought him to a crossroads. Galeotti died from complications of AIDS – his death was attributed to a heart attack at the time – and the then 50-year-old Armani was called upon to decide what to do with his life and his company. Everyone was betting that he would not be able to make it without Galeotti by his side.

It was a belief that even besieged his own mind. He decided to do what he knew best. To overcome and overcome the hardest period of his life with hard and endless work. Now in his mind two characters had to coexist: the designer and the businessman. He served this role unshakably and with full responsibility – he is also the sole shareholder of his company – until the end of his life.

Billionaire worker

And not in the easiest, nor in the most spectacular or pompous way. Yes, his fortune may have ensured him a comfortable living with luxurious residences all over the world and his famous floating palace, his superyacht named MAIN, he may have always been where the cosmic pulse of the planet beat and embodied with every move and to a superlative degree the triptych of famous, rich and influential, he may have enjoyed a luxurious and often pampered life, but Giorgio Armani never made it an issue. He did not rest on the laurels of success nor did he revel in his self-admiration and self-love. On the contrary, he had chosen for himself the role of a worker.

There was always something better and something more to do. He could always try harder. Even his outward appearance with his white hair, tanned skin and fit, unexaggerated body, his Doric, usually dark blue outfit with white shoes, but also his gentle, gentle manners – even in the moments of absolute chaos before the shows, they say, he remained sober and gentle – created more of the feeling that one was facing an ascetic figure and not some larger-than-life Messiah of fashion and trends.

I have actually created a lifestyle that I would define as a world of natural elegance, in which nothing is excessive, but everything finds a balance that, although whispered, is rich in personality, he said in one of the last interviews of his life, speaking on the occasion of the milestone of his half-century in fashion. If someone asked him, he would surely answer that he could have done better. Modest? Maybe. Workaholic? Definitely. So much so that he did not hesitate to admit that his dedication to work, perhaps deprived him of some of the joys and pleasures of life. Mainly the relationships with people that he so needed.

Present until the end

And of course he wasn't talking about typical socialities or worldliness. Armani, as he said, found security in the touch and embrace of people. Perhaps his dedication to work was also what prevented him from having children – he wanted, he said, to have not one but many descendants. What is truly rare and impressive is that Giorgio Armani did not complain, nor did he regret it. He simply described – perhaps as a means of acceptance – the consequences of the decision he made to move forward in his work and in life. After all, for him they were inseparable concepts.

As for how he would prefer to be remembered and commemorated? Certainly not as a king, a maestro or a legend, with the aggressive designations that are rightfully attributed to him. If he himself could choose a title for himself, it would be that of the artist. As he had said in a moment of reflection: Maybe I should have done something where I could express myself more, without any conditions. Like a writer. A writer who writes what he thinks. Period and dash.

In the fashion world, you have to make clothes to sell, you have to make clothes for the press, you have to make clothes for yourself. What I mean is that everything is a commitment. But a writer? A true artist? He may not make a penny, but he ultimately does what he wants.