Giorgio Armani died on September 4, 2025, at the age of ninety-one, as confirmed by the Armani Group. He passed peacefully at his home in Milan, surrounded by loved ones, and remained actively bound to his work until his final days, pouring his energy into collections and projects still in motion.

His death is not merely the disappearance of a world-renowned creator. It marks the closure of a regime of signs that reshaped how power, elegance, and desire are encoded in contemporary visual culture. His celebrated deconstructed suit freed the body from postwar stiffness and inscribed a new language—sober, timeless, and profoundly functional. With little more than a palette of grays and beiges, he consolidated discreet luxury into a modern myth, a potent system of symbols where authority spoke without bluster and sensuality without ostentation.

Armani built a coherent universe—spanning clothing, perfume, the architecture of his stores, even the atmosphere of his hotels—that turned the brand into a total discourse of visuality and lifestyle.

From this day forward, his legacy will be bound, among other things, to the endurance of a meticulous minimalism in an age oversaturated with stimuli. The sobriety and aesthetic consistency he championed acquire renewed force against the static of contemporary fashion.

No one is perfect without the shadow of error.

His trajectory bore its share of controversy: contentious remarks on homosexuality and the female body, not to mention allegations of tax evasion. These surely tarnished his public image, but perhaps they also added rungs to the ladder. Yet Armani distinguished himself by remaining faithful to a single idea: that fashion must serve the person, not the other way around.

Still, Giorgio… I never wore your clothes, and I doubt I ever will. Nothing personal. Clothing interests me now only as a way of not being naked. You worked until the end, and that I respect. Fino a quando salgo… goditela.

Brief biographical note.

Giorgio Armani (1934, Piacenza, Italy) founded his own house in 1975 and transformed both menswear and womenswear with a pared-down aesthetic that opposed the excesses of seventies fashion. His revolutionary deconstructed suit, which eliminated rigid shoulder pads and forced forms, liberated the body and defined a new paradigm of sophistication. Armani conquered Hollywood in the 1980s, dressing stars on the red carpet and in films such as American Gigolo. His empire extended far beyond clothing—with perfumes, furniture, and hotels—making him a symbol of Italian design and a source of inspiration for his constancy, business acumen, and the crystalline clarity of his unmistakable style.