Giorgio Armani, designer and undisputed figure in global fashion, has died. He was accompanied by his family and Leo Dell'Orco, his companion for the past 20 years. For decades, he helped shape an unmistakable style, working until the very end.

Giorgio Armani died today, Thursday, September 4th. He was 91 years old. His group confirmed this in a statement: With deepest condolences, the Armani group announces the passing of its creator, founder, and tireless driving force. Mr. Armani, as he was always called with respect and admiration by his employees and collaborators, passed away peacefully, surrounded by his loved ones. The chapel of rest will be open from Saturday, September 6th and will be open until Sunday, September 7th, from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., in Milan, at Via Bergognone 59, at the Armani/Teatro. In accordance with Armani's express wishes, the funeral will be held privately. This is his portrait, signed by Paola Pollo.

Giorgio Armani taught us to believe that time would never pass. The designer died today at the age of 91 (he turned 91 on July 11). He was accompanied by his family and Leo Dell'Orco, his companion for the last twenty years.

The news surprised everyone, because—as we've grown accustomed to—Armani worked right up until the very end: just a few days ago, he released a statement announcing his acquisition of La Capannina, in a gesture he described as affectionate, a return to his roots. It was there, in the 1960s, that he met Sergio Galeotti, who later became his partner in life and work. Not only that. A few days ago, he also wanted to check and approve all the looks from the 50th anniversary collection, which will be shown at the next fashion week in September.

A few weeks ago, shortly before his 91st birthday, a lung infection forced him to be hospitalized and convalescing at his home on Via Borgonuovo in Milan, forcing him to not attend – a very rare occurrence – his collection show in June. He had already had a problem last year, which he later resolved: and at the June 2024 shows, three days after being discharged from the hospital, he had wanted to greet his guests after the shows. Last June, however, he chose not to attend the show:"But I'm fine," he added. Peaceful weeks followed: his birthday, with thousands of good wishes from the entire fashion world, and beyond; the decision to purchase the Capannina; and above all his beloved work on clothes.

For Armani, the summer had passed peacefully, in his house in Forte dei Marmi, with his family. And worrying every day about work and friends, insisting that they go in his place to the villa in Pantelleria, where he usually spent the summer, and constantly update him on their stay and the island. Just a few days ago, a slight worsening of a sudden stomach ache. But nothing that foreshadowed the worst. He had started eating again and calling to stay up to date on everything.

Today, however, the news of his death. And those last words, shared on social media: The legacy I hope to leave is one of commitment, respect, and care for people and for reality. That's where it all begins. The city that welcomed his rise, Milan, has proclaimed Monday, September 8th, the day of his private funeral, a day of mourning.

He was born in Piacenza on July 11, 1934. The third of three children. The youngest, the most beautiful, the most pampered by his mother, Maria, who instilled in him all her class and sophisticated taste in style. After the war, he moved to Milan. Not easy, but more than dignified. High school and immediately felt drawn to doing something for others."Taking care of bodies," he said, thinking later about what was going through his head at the time. For this reason, he chose medicine. A path only apparently distant from the one he would later decide to take: because anatomy is a science that will return with power in Armani's work. His knowledge will lead him to understand better than others what would be perfect for dressing bodies—real ones, as he always emphasized.

It was 1953, three years of university: then the decision to leave for the military, and a return—which he found too tight—to the classrooms of the State University. Hence the choice to go to work at Rinascente. It was 1957. Fashion had entered the Armani family with his sister Rosanna, a model. He, Giorgio, began with the window displays. A few more years, and Nino Cerruti—passing by—noticed that those displays on Corso Vittorio Emanuele were unprecedentedly sophisticated. It was 1964. Meeting that young man, at this point, a thirty-year-old Giorgio Armani, and entrusting him with one of his clothing lines was all one and the same. The path had been chosen.

Fashion became the life of this beautiful man, who the year before had met Sergio Galeotti, a young enterprising man like himself: the couple was drawn together. There was the manager and there was the creative.

It was 1975 and Giorgio Armani was born. First invention? Historic: the term stylist . Copyright confirmed: I am neither a couturier nor a tailor but I felt like someone who creates a style, a stylist, he said. And it was.

The road? One success after another because, first of all, Armani understood that men and women were no longer what they once were. It wasn't a cliché, but the reality: lives and bodies (here we go again) had changed, yet clothes continued to be heavy, cumbersome, and constructive.

He emptied them all: he deconstructed the jackets and lightened the men's trousers. And he did the same thing with the women, whom he dressed with the idea of them sitting at a desk or running to catch a taxi.

Then it happened that a Hollywood director, Paul Schrader, contacted him to design the clothes for his American Gigolo. He came to Milan with John Travolta and I accepted, he enjoyed talking about Armani, revealing that initially the protagonist wasn't supposed to be Richard Gere. It was 1980. It was his consecration in the States. Just seven years after the brand's founding, the cover of Time arrived. It was 1982. The cover may satisfy my vanity, but it's the attention they paid to my work that gives me great professional pleasure. They understood - without the smugness that those who talk about fashion often use - the value of a commitment that doesn't consist in designing a few models, but in continually trying to adapt a way of dressing and living, living, living, an idea to the possibility of industrial reproduction, he commented analytically.

Then it was a unique ride, without ever missing a beat, but rather building a new piece of history every season, forward and forward: Every day from my work I learn something, he said until the end.

Here, in no particular order because dates don't matter when everything happens: Emporio Armani, the perfumes, the house, the beauty, the hotels, EA7, the films, the books, the exhibitions, the eyewear, the Silos, the Privé haute couture, the palaces, the boats, and his beautiful homes. An empire always centered on his vision: coherent, programmatic fashion, never stagnant, and above all, never ridiculous—a term he detested. Style, he said, is elegance, not extravagance. The important thing is not to be noticed, but to be remembered.

Not that everything was always so joyful. The sudden death of his work and life partner, Sergio Galeotti, marked one of the most important transitions. It was 1985. August 13th, to be precise, a date the designer will never forget. First, Giorgio Armani was the designer; after that day, he became the entrepreneur-designer. I tried to fill the great void left by Sergio with the typical impetuosity of a naïve. I overcame obstacles, faced complications, tried to clarify my ideas, and wanted to discover my weaknesses.

Head down and forward (I gave everything and gave up my life for my work), he quickly took control of everything, organizing and setting up and planning and bringing it all to the successes mentioned above. Legend has it that he increasingly became the first to enter and the last to leave, always turning off the lights.

And when what he had created became an empire, large and envied, he resisted the lure of offers. The first arrived in the 1990s, the last last year. The company bears the name of its creator, and this generates a very strong bond that survives the sale of the brand. And of the same market that demands the presence of the creative person and identifies with him creativity, control, and assiduous attention.

A resistance he consolidated in recent times by establishing what should happen after him, from his stylistic legacy to his niece Silvana Armani and his right-hand man Leo Dell'Orco. Everything was established with the Foundation and its rules. With both of them, he went out to collect the applause at their last shows. Applause he loved, demanded, deserved. Even when he could have done without it due to his affections, his years, his success, his money, his fame, his palaces, his boats...

Why should I stop or"not care," he replied last year, in Paris, precisely."I am my job; if I did that, it would mean I didn't care about myself."

You too, turn off your light, Mr. Giorgio Armani. It's right this way.