Excesses and forgotten privacy: why tributes to Giorgio Armani risk being the anti-Armani

On his personal life in particular, many, too many really, have pretended to be unaware that a few days before his death, in the communiqué announcing the purchase of La Capannina di Forte dei Marmi, Sergio Galeotti was mentioned as a 'friend'. Galeotti, whom I met in the Versilia club, was later a founding partner, exactly 50 years ago, of the Giorgio Armani company. But he was also a life companion and great love of the designer-entrepreneur: everyone - as they say in these cases - knew this, but the person concerned made no declaration on the subject for decades. There was, it is true, a discreet coming-out years ago, which Armani perhaps regretted, seeing that, precisely, in the statement ten days ago he returned to using the word 'friend'.

The final jarring element of these days is the amount of people - colleagues, close and distant friends, acquaintances, politicians and, yes, alas, journalists, etc. etc. etc. - who felt the need to give interviews, post photo galleries as if they were going to an audition or a shoot. - who felt the need to give interviews, post photo galleries as if they were going to an audition or a shooting. All aspiring to the title of 'author of the longest, least measured and discreet memory of Giorgio Armani, most publishable, posted, reposted, relaunched'. All self-appointed to take part in the contest inspired by the model "Goodbye Giorgio, how do I look?".

Let's be clear, expressing grief and sorrow is, as well as obviously human and legitimate, deserving and perhaps alleviates the suffering and emptiness left in those left behind. But grief and condolences must have at their centre the person who is no longer there, not those who express them (again, in my opinion).

Today the funeral chamber will close, tomorrow there will be a private funeral and public mourning in Milan and Piacenza, where Armani was born in 1934 and which last year awarded him an honorary degree thanks to the local university.

The semi-coincidence with Milan Women's Fashion Week, which starts on 23 September, and the 50th anniversary of the brand and the 20th anniversary of the Armani Privé haute couture collection, both of which fall this year, will almost certainly continue the reminiscence mode we have seen in recent days. Then, perhaps, the background noise will cease.

Personally, I hope that something remains of the Giorgio Armani traits that are praised and at the same time betrayed, almost scarred, these days. I hope that in this age of media excesses (public and personal), of shouting and slogans, of personal certainties passed off as universal truths, of invasion of privacy, of loss of a sense of measure - even, of course, in fashion - something really remains of the 'reluctant lesson' that Armani, in my opinion, gave to everyone. A lesson that, I repeat, revolves entirely around a thoughtful sobriety. A vision of the intimate and external world that does not exclude smears, temporary excesses and mistakes, as happens to every human being. A vision that, however, never borders on a disregard for oneself, for others and, I repeat, for fashion.