After the King: Giorgio Armani’s Empire at a Crossroads

When Giorgio Armani died on 4 September 2025, Milan lost more than a designer—it lost a cultural anchor. Armani revolutionised tailoring, redefined womenswear, and built one of the last great independent fashion houses. Now his empire faces a defining test: can the foundation and inner circle he so carefully assembled preserve his ethos of discipline, restraint and independence in an industry dominated by conglomerates? Armani’s greatest creation may not have been a suit at all, but the roadmap he left behind.