Fashion giant Giorgio Armani dies aged 91<\/a><\/p>\nThe Italian founded a fashion empire that became synonymous with elegance and style.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Armani “represented our city”, said Fanny Bucci, a 55-year-old local who visited the coffin on Saturday.<\/p>\n
“It’s the end of an era.”<\/p>\n
Queues of mourners line the streets<\/p>\n
Two hours after the doors opened, the queue of mourners stretched along the street.<\/p>\n
Among the first mourners through the door was a large group of Armani staff, all in black mourning wear and black sunglasses.<\/p>\n
![\"Crowds](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/a6b54168e2c46603e74ea2b51671fd6b\")
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Long queues of mourners extended down the street outside the Teatro Armani in Milan. (AP: Antonio Calanni)<\/p>\n
“It’s so emotional,” said Silvia Albonetti, an Emporio Armani saleswoman.<\/p>\n
“He was an incredible man\u2026 sometimes curt, but human.”<\/p>\n
In line with Armani’s wishes, a separate entry was reserved for group staff.<\/p>\n
“I’m one of his employees, so I’m sincerely attached to him,” said Alessandra Caccavo, wiping away the tears with her fingers behind her sunglasses.<\/p>\n
“He made sure we never wanted for anything… he was exceptional, so hospitable.<\/p>\n
“We would always see him in the offices, which means a lot when you think who he was.”<\/p>\n
A mourner, Annamaria Longo Dorni travelled from Lake Maggiore, two hours north of Milan, to pay her respects wearing an Armani midnight-blue jacket for the occasion.<\/p>\n
“You put it on, and you’re perfect,” she said in tribute.<\/p>\n
“It’s always up to date, even after 20 years.”<\/p>\n
![\"People](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1e3c7ddb5b44eab7e07d3168f55c6614\")
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People line up in Milan to pay their respects to fashion designer Giorgio Armani, who died on Thursday aged 91. (AP: Antonio Calanni)<\/p>\n
Condolences have also poured in from celebrities around the world, including Ralph Lauren, Julia Roberts, Anna Wintour and Leonardo DiCaprio.<\/p>\n
Ferrari chairman John Elkann was also among the mourners on Saturday, many of whom were greeted by the coffin by Armani’s partner Pantaleo Dell’Orco.<\/p>\n
Throughout his remarkable career, Armani kept top-to-bottom control of his company as it moved from fashion into luxury hotels, cosmetics, accessories and interiors.<\/p>\n
When he died, he was one of the richest men in the world, with a net worth estimated at $US11.8 billion ($17.9b), according to Forbes magazine.<\/p>\n
“Every fashion show was pure magic,” fashion student Pietro Angeleri, 20, told AFP as he queued to pay his last respects.<\/p>\n
“No one has managed to make women stand out like he did. He will be missed.”<\/p>\n
Future of Armani empire remains unclear<\/p>\n
Armani’s company has not revealed the cause of his death, but Italy’s Corriere della Sera newspaper reported on Saturday that he had been suffering from liver failure.<\/p>\n
He was hospitalised with viral bronchopneumonia in June in Milan, it said, which left him weakened, even if he seemed to recover.<\/p>\n
Armani cancelled his menswear show in Milan due to health reasons, and also missed the Paris Armani Prive show on doctors’ orders.<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/fb830386de3b9527e6c6e0e8cfd6032b\")
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Condolences have poured in from around the world for Armani, who was credited with revolutionising the fashion industry. (AP: Antonio Calanni)<\/p>\n
After his 91st birthday on July 11, which he celebrated with a small family party, long-standing problems with his liver returned, Corriere said.<\/p>\n
He had kept working almost to the end, finalising outfits for the show celebrating the company’s 50th anniversary at Milan Fashion Week at the end of the month \u2014 which will now act as his final farewell.<\/p>\n
Giorgio Armani’s best looks<\/a><\/p>\nArmani’s name has become synonymous with the red carpet, thanks to his close relationship with the stars.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Armani had no children, and his death leaves a question mark over the future of his empire.<\/p>\n
In his final interview published just days before his death, he name-checked Mr Dell’Orco among family and close friends to whom he was gradually transferring responsibility.<\/p>\n
His nieces Roberta and Silvana Armani work for the group, while his nephew Andrea Camerana is a board member.<\/p>\n
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”.<\/p>\n
AP\/AFP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hundreds of people have gathered at Milan’s Armani Theatre to pay their last respects to Giorgio Armani, after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":123462,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[64,63,67757,134,20638,22431,49853,19269],"class_list":["post-123461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-designer","tag-entertainment","tag-fashion","tag-fashion-house","tag-giorgio-armani","tag-milan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=123461"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123461\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/123462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=123461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=123461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=123461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}