No. Quitting. No, said Giorgio Armani, defiantly, when I interviewed him in June at his One Night Only fashion show in Beijing. The question of his retirement has been aimed at his neck for the last 15 years.
Despite his age, 78, his personal wealth, which according to Forbes, stands at £4.5 billion, the success of his self-run and sole-owned business which last year sold £5.4 billion worth of Armani products, the legend that is
still feels he has much to prove in an industry obsessed with youth.
It is one thing to interview an icon, but quite another to travel to Beijing where he was celebrating his decade-long presence in China get to wear his clothes and listen to him talk so candidly.
How did he become a fashion billionaire? What does he think of and ? Why does he never use Supermodels? How does it feel to live his life?
Life, he says, I have sacrificed life. The life of a young man when I first started out and the life of a grown man at the age I am now.
Read Giorgio Armani's exclusive interview and the answers to these questions and more in the September issue of ELLE, on sale now.
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