Mr.Armani's UNIVERSE

Over the past five decades, Giorgio Armani has constructed his own cinematic world out of fashion and with an ambitious new project in New York, now you can live in it too.

- OSMAN AHMED

When I meet Mr. Armani-never Giorgio, even to those in his inner sanctum-on the eve of his 90th birthday this past summer, he is at home in Milan, surveying his light-dappled Japanese garden as construction work takes place. Though he is smaller than you might think, it's here that the portrait of the man behind the myth, one of fashion's last eponymous titans, reaches full scale. "I love being at home. It's my safe, placid space," he tells me via a translator. "The biggest misconception about me is that I am cold and distant. In truth, I am a shy person who cherishes affection from a close circle of loved ones."

This month, far from Mr. Armani's Milan address, Armani is opening a new 12-storey limestone building on Madison Avenue that he helped develop. It will have 10 luxury condos above a Casa/Armani store, a flagship Giorgio Armani boutique, and even a restaurant. "Somehow, I have turned my fantasy of being a movie director into reality," the designer says, laughing. "First, I dressed the characters, then I gave them furniture, a house, then flowers, restaurants, sweets, and so much more."

To celebrate the occasion, Armani's Spring 2025 runway show will take place in New York City, marking the first time that the designer has shown his main collection outside of Milan. In addition to feting the new building, Mr. Armani explains that the move is a gesture of gratitude: "America, and New York in particular, is where I found my first real audience-a whole generation of men and women eager to represent themselves in a new way," he says. "Women in particular were taking strides in the workplace and needed a modern approach to dressing. What I like about the American audience is how open it is to new proposals and [also] its loyalty."