ARMANI IN MILAN — THE DAY AFTER

The Giorgio Armani Privé 2005–2025 exhibition opened in Milan in 2025. I happened to be there the day after he died with the ladies from The French Jacket Retreat.

There were TV cameras outside interviewing people when we got there, which I genuinely wasn't expecting. Everyone inside was quieter than you'd normally be at one of these things. It was a strange day to be looking at someone's life's work.

Honestly, I didn't realise how many different types of gowns he'd actually made. I had this idea of Armani as basically one look, and then you walk through twenty years of it and realize there was so much more range than I'd ever given him credit for.

The construction up close is what got me though. Handwork you wouldn't even notice unless you really looked — seams, finishes, little decisions that just quietly hold the whole thing together. I make things myself so I can't help looking at that stuff, and it's always the bits nobody else clocks that take the most skill.

It didn't really feel like a normal exhibition day. Cameras outside, everyone a bit subdued, walking round a room full of someone's entire career on the day after he'd gone. I won't forget it.