A Tribute to Giorgio Armani.
A remembrance by Anna Lottersberger, Dean of Ferrari Fashion School, and Ferrari Fashion School who wanted to honor the Maestro Giorgio Armani with a reflection that weaves together memory, experience, and gratitude for someone who forever transformed the language of fashion.
“Falling in love, dreaming, absorbing, and metabolizing: these are the traces of my creative path – not only when I conceive and design a collection, but also when the time comes to communicate it through an advertising message.”
Giorgio Armani wrote these words to Nicoletta Bocca in 1990, a statement that continues to embody what we share with our students as the essence of the Italian creative method in fashion.
Today, September 4, 2025, Giorgio Armani has passed away. The news arrives only a few months after his very first absence from a runway show last June, an absence that speaks volumes about his unwavering dedication to his craft and his constant presence until the very end. At 91, Armani embodied a paradox: monumental shows, rich in looks and scenic detail, contrasted with a deeply reserved personality, far removed from gossip, social media, and the glare of private exposure.
Anyone who had the privilege of working with him – whether for a day or a lifetime – recalled his profound respect, uncompromising meticulousness, and genuine courtesy extended to everyone. For Armani, style, ideas, and constancy were not just professional values, but daily traits of his character.
I remember 2007, when he received an honorary degree from my Alma Mater: he was the most visibly moved of all those present. Several years later, at the opening of Charles Fréger’s exhibition at the Armani/Silos, I had the chance to be introduced to him by an old friend of his. Even on that occasion, despite the crowd, Armani devoted himself to greeting each guest with the same care, never sparing his energy. My friend introduced me with almost excessive praise, as if it were Mr. Armani who should be grateful to meet me. And he, with his disarming simplicity, greeted me in exactly that spirit, while I blushed with embarrassment.
I met him again a couple of times: once during an installation at the Teatro for Design Week, and later on a Saturday afternoon during Fashion Week, at the Eliseo cinema for a screening of The Lord of the Ants by Gianni Amelio. In the midst of fashion’s busiest season, Armani chose to spend those hours at the movies – with the same natural ease that always accompanied his greatness.
Thus his legacy is etched: a man who revolutionized the global perception of fashion, blending poetry and precision, cultural references and cinema, experimentation and market.
Who better than he managed to translate imagination into the universal language of fashion?
