FAREWELL TO A LEGEND

A-listers join tearful models to celebrate Giorgio Armani as the late designer's final collection is shown at Milan Fashion Week

- BECKY DONALDSON

When Giorgio Armani’s spring/summer 2026 collection closed Milan Fashion Week last month, it was a bittersweet finale.

The show took place in the historic Courtyard of Honour at Palazzo Brera, just a ten-minute walk from Corso Venezia, where the late Italian designer presented his debut show in October 1975.

The showcase had been planned as a celebration of 50 years of Italy’s most successful fashion company — an empire spanning luxury clothing, accessories, fragrances, makeup, furniture, hotels and restaurants.

Instead, it marked the final time that a collection personally designed by Giorgio Armani would appear on the runway. The designer and businessman, who served as creative director and chief executive of the company he founded, died on 4 September at the age of 91.

"With infinite sorrow, the Armani Group announces the passing of its creator, founder and tireless driving force: Giorgio Armani," the designer's team said after his death.

"Il Signor Armani, as he was always respectfully and admiringly called by employees and collaborators, passed away peacefully, surrounded by his loved ones. Indefatigable to the end, he worked until his final days."

TEARFUL TRIBUTES