We republish the interview with the great designer, who disappeared today at the age of 91, published on May 10, 2020 in which the undisputed master of the style all over the world and brilliant entrepreneur, speaks of his relationship with faith.
“In these days, while we all work remotely,” says Giorgio Armani, “I understand that there may be another way, which does not affect productivity: equally effective even if less immediate. However, I miss the close contact with my collaborators, the comparison, the looks. And it hurts me not to hear, in the background, the noise of Milan that lives, at full speed ». In some point in the world, at some time, someone started calling him “King”, the king. Born in Piacenza and Milanese of adoption, the crown earned in fashion, of which it is the absolute star, for decades with human, entrepreneurial, creative and above all the genius of those who have opened and continues to open new paths. First he understood that fashion could become more accessible and, in a certain way, “democratic”. In 1981 he created Emporio Armani, who allowed many to wear bomber and jeans with the iconic eagle logo. In 2004 he launched EA7, to bring his style to the sportsmen. And as a basketball lover (“My two boys brothers played it,” he says), and perhaps as a former fan of the magical Simmenthal, he became patron and patron of Olimpia Milano, which follows affectionately in the stands since 2008.
Fascinated by the values of the great sport, he dressed the national team at the Olympics (also the one that would have competed at the Tokyo games, scheduled for July but postponed due to the Covid-19) and the blue football blues. It was one of the first stylists, inaugurated the millennium, to create design lines such as Armani/Casa and even Armani/Fiori, for refined floral arrangements. And then the restaurants including Nobu, who launched the trend of sushi in Italy, and the Emporio Armani Caffè, who became one of the reference clubs of the fashion quadrilateral, the desserts (from adoptive Milanese could not be missing “his” panettone, which stole the weeks before Christmas) and finally the luxury hotel chain. Each project was carried out with the same passion and that style that knows how to be made in Italy and international together, and is universally recognized as its unmistakable trait. Rather than adding it is one of its diktats. Color yes but often suffused, discreet. His step in the world was just like that, mild and inimitable, such as “Greige”, that tone between gray and beige that distinguishes many of its collections. Never excesses, no exaggerations, in the height and rutilant world of luxury is a lighthouse with solid foundations, to which everyone always looks.
So, once again today he arrived first. He was the first to decide not to parade to fashion week. It was only February 23: the Coronavirus began to insinuate the silent and invisible threat also in the air of his beloved Milan. And he, timely and resolute, closed his doors. “The parade was recorded at the theater empty and streamed on online platforms, I did not want to expose the health of the guests to any risk, which were there to work, and my employees,” he explains. “It was surreal to see the empty audience, but I was aware of having made a wise choice, which I would repeat.” From that moment, Armani’s will to fight one of the greatest enemies in our history has been seen day after day. The parade in Dubai has been postponed, on 8 March it makes a donation of one million and 250 thousand euros to the Luigi Sacco hospitals, San Raffaele and the Cancer Institute of Milan, in the Spallanzani of Rome and to the Civil Protection. On March 10, he closes shops, hotels, coffee and restaurants, always in continuity with the preventive lines he adopted, not to put the health of employees and customers at risk. And he arrives, with his heart in his hand, from Milanese now almost doc and a former medical student, who for fashion has put in the drawer the boy’s dream to become a doctor, his letter to the Italian health personnel. «It is moving to see you engaged in your work with the difficulties and the great efforts that the whole world now knows. And above all to see you cry. I believe that this feeling connects to my desire to embark on the career of a doctor when I was young and I was looking for my way. The whole Giorgio Armani is sensitive to this reality and is close to all of you: from the stretcher to the nurse, from the basic doctors to all specialists in the sector. They are personally close to you ». Personally close, this is the vocation of this entrepreneur, loved by those who work with him and for him, for humility, the personal knowledge of every passage of the infinite chain of his companies. A person who, since he took care of the windows of the department stores La Rinascente in the late 1950s, never pulled back to any task. A king, but a king who does not forget the well -being of his. In an exceptional historical moment, we like to listen to the point of view of such an enlightened entrepreneur.
Are you now changing the image of Italy and its beloved Milan internationally? «Italy is a resilient country, which is showing that it has one of the best health system in the world, by effectiveness and accessibility, and I am very proud of this. And Milan, which today is one of the cities most affected by contagion, does not stop having that determination and that effective, concrete force, which is proper to her and which has made it beating beating of business and culture worldwide. It is a great proof that we are facing, but I am sure that we will come out united, stimulated to find solutions to start again with a different rhythm, I hope, and perhaps more aware of having to face a world where the problems are global. The crisis will not change the image of the Bel Paese, because nothing can affect its character and culture deeply rooted in its beauty, from which it draws strength and inspiration ». And the battle of the king for his Milan and Italy continues. On March 26, he communicated the conversion of all his Italian plants to the production of disposable cans intended for the protection of healthcare professionals against Coronavirus. It also decides to make its contribution to the hospital in Bergamo, to that of Piacenza and Versilia, thus reaching a donation of 2 million euros. It also involves the club, the players and the Basketball coach Olimpia Milano, who renounce a part of the salary to support hospital facilities. In all another million euros. Fight, but is he afraid like everyone else? “Yes, of course, at this moment I am afraid, for me, for the people who are close to me, but also for those who do not know, the unknown and distant people”. A moment of profound reflection on life, which inevitably becomes a thought on his world, that of fashion … “For years I have raised the same questions, often unheard and indeed passing by moralist: luxury cannot and must not be fast. It makes no sense that my jacket or my suit live in the shop for three weeks before becoming obsolete, replaced by new goods that is not too different. I don’t work like this, and I find it immoral to do it. I have always believed in an idea of timeless elegance, which is not only a precise aesthetic belief, but an attitude in the design and implementation of the garments that suggests a way to buy them: because they last. This crisis is a wonderful opportunity to slow down and draw a more true horizon. A reflection that I am experiencing on my skin: I get used to frenetic rhythms, I am learning like everyone the importance of slowing down. A pause that becomes an opportunity for intimacy, a way of nourishing our thoughts. This is the great teaching that, in the end, will leave us this experience of long isolation ». For many, in the pandemic, believing and appealing to God is of comfort. Helps her too? «Having faith is a great gift, a safe comfort, but also the gesture of humility to recognize that there is something that guides our life. I happened to me, in some very difficult moments, to address a prayer and it was of great comfort ».
