On September 4, the sad news of Italian designer Giorgio Armani’s death began to spread. Despite being 91 and recently ill, he remained deeply involved in every design and fashion show, making his impending death seem unfathomable.
âMy greatest weakness is that I am in control of everything,â Armani told the Financial Times in his final interview, released August 29. As the creative director, CEO, and sole shareholder, this statement rang true. But long before he became affectionately known as “King Giorgio,” Armani was a struggling designer who was trying to make a name for himself. It was at this point that he met Sergio Galeotti, a 21-year-old architect.
How Armani and Galeotti Crafted a Fashion Empire with Love
“I crossed paths with Sergio in a car,” Armani recalled to Corriere della Sera. “I immediately liked his Tuscan smile.” The 32-year-old and Galeotti connected immediately.
“He gave me courage and confidence,” Armani said. “He told me, ‘You have significant potential.’ He had seen my clothes and realized that I could go further.”
The two founded fashion house Giorgio Armani S.p.A. together, and were soon business partners as well as lovers.
âSuddenly it became a relationship of deep affection,” Armani told Vanity Fair. âLove is too reductive a term. It was a great complicity vis-Ã -vis life and the rest of the world.â
The pair pushed the idea that Armani was the creative side of the label, and Galeotti was the business and finance guy. But that was just the image they wanted to project.
âNaturally Sergio had no experience in business, and naturally behind Sergio there was me,” Armani said. “But in the eyes of the worldâeven for himâwe pushed the idea that Sergio was the big guy behind it all in this business. And I was the creator.â
The brand had already gained recognition in the 1970s, but it was the 1980s that truly saw Armani take off. After Richard Gere wore only Armani in “American Gigolo,” everyone wanted to wear the fashion label.
Professionally, Galeotti and Armani were doing great. But soon, everything changed after Galeotti was diagnosed with AIDS.
Giorgio Armani’s Heartbreak and Resilience: A Journey of Love and Loss
I had to tap into my willpower to deal with all the pain and anguish,” Armani told Corriere Della Sera. “A whole year spent next to Sergio in his hospital bed. And it all happened as our career was taking off, when we were becoming known, setting up our company, reaching worldwide fame. It was the moment I was gaining confidence in myself, and then this blow hit me.”
“When Sergio died, a part of me died with him,” Armani confided. “I must say Iâm still amazed that I found within myself the resilience to withstand such an immense pain. We spent a year going from hospital to hospital, and to avoid hurting him, I kept working the whole time so that I could bring him the photos of the fashion shows. In the final days, I could see tears welling in his eyes. It was an extremely difficult time, terribly hard for me to overcome.”
For the past two decades, Armani has been in a relationship with Pantaleo Dell’Orco, a Giorgio Armani Foundation executive and board member. Even so, he admits that when it comes to being in love, he’s “indifferent.”
“It’s pointless to be in love and give little space to your love, because I don’t have the space,” he admitted to Corriere Della Sera. “Except for my deep affection for Leo Dell’Orco, who has lived with me for years and is the person closest to me.”
But Galeotti was never far from his thoughts. One of the last things he did before his death was buy La Capannina, the Forte dei Marmi nightclub where he first met Galeotti. “La Capannina holds personal meaning for Mr. Armani,” Armani’s statement on X read.
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