Continuing the celebration of his brand’s 40th anniversary, Giorgio Armani links up with GQ’s Michael Hainey to discuss his personal life and professional ambitions realized. Now, at the age of 80, Armani reflects on a lifetime, revealing, “I think now, at this point in my life, I manage maybe to be more myself than I have ever been. I cry often. All I have to do is think, and my eyes water. So, I can’t hide it. That’s why I hide from relationships, from confrontations. And this sensitivity that grows with age comes from when I was a child. But I’m not ashamed of it. I don’t fight it.” Armani credits his partner, the late Sergio Galeotti with giving him the encouragement to start his own fashion house. The designer shares, “It was Sergio who believed in me. Sergio made me believe in myself. He made me see the bigger world.”
After Galeotti’s death in 1985, Armani recalls, “Many people didn’t think I could do it. They didn’t believe in me. It was disappointing to discover—even within my own company—that there were people who thought I would not be able to do it. So there was an exodus. And I had to roll up my sleeves and learn to speak to lawyers, to publicists.” Preparing for his eventual exit from the company, he is confident in expressing, “I’ve surrounded myself with skilled collaborators, people that I trained and helped develop while thinking of my succession. So I can assure you that everything is in place. When the time is right, my team will move on its own, standing strong against any ‘flood.'” Read more at GQ.com.
