SimplyAbuDhabi XXXVII

The GiorgioArmani Group currently employs 8,000 people worldwide and has more than 12,000 points of sale – the scale of his one-man brand is vast. The elephant in the room remains the question of Mr Armani’s successor: there have been mutterings of a legacy plan. With no children or named other half (his private life has never been up for discussion), Mr Armani’s closest family is his sister, Rosanna, and her son, Andrea Camerana, plus his two nieces, Roberta and Silvana, daughters of his late brother, Sergio. His closest friend is the sixty-something Pantaleo Dell’Orco, known as Leo, who has been a menswear collaborator and confidant for more than 20 years. Ever the perfectionist, Mr Armani can still be found backstage ahead of runway shows, examining each model and making necessary tweaks, his exacting eyes flickering when he sees something he doesn’t like. It’s clear this truly is his happy place and he’s doing what he was born to do. “Maybe it’s a bit presumptuous to say,” he shrugs, when asked if he considers himself the godfather of Italian fashion, “but yes, maybe I am”. 088 | SIMPLY INFLUENTIAL “I never forget that we are here to dress people with something authentic, useful and beautiful.”