Armani after Giorgio Armani

There are designers whose signatures become so embedded in daily life, they stop looking like signatures at all. Giorgio Armani was one of them. He let jackets fall closer to the torso, widened trousers so they floated around the body like smoke, and washed the palette in sand, navy, stone and that in-between grey-beige he termed ‘greige’. Oh, and not to forget, his evening wear had a smidgen of gleaming insouciance: crystals scattered across fluid columns, satin cut on the bias, and a jacket, mimicking the ease of a pair of pyjamas, slipped ever-so-casually over a dress.

At the time of his final showcase, before the fashion world lost him last year, the line was unmistakable. Long, lean jackets or softly squared ones shaped at the waist, trousers full through the leg, open-weave and weightless knit, and surfaces worked in beads which caught the light without disturbing the calm. And at the centre of it all were the suits—the pieces that defined the house and returned, season after season, in steady variations.

Now Milan Fashion Week is underway again, and the question hovering over the Emporio Armani runway—the Winter 2026–2027 show presented just yesterday—is how the history of the brand propels forward without the man who first made it his own.

Silvana Armani, who worked alongside her uncle for decades and shaped Armani Privé to an extent, has begun to answer in instalments. Her first couture collection last month, as creative director, was noticeably edited. Sixty looks. No hats. The opening passage was built on languid tailoring: relaxed blazers, sheer organza shirts with ties falling loose at the neck, and pin-tucked wide-leg trousers layered in organza or cady. The mood was lighter, the silhouette fluid. Embroidery did the decorative work—micro-crystals trembling across tiered gowns, elliptical panels forming long skirts that moved with ease, and a column dress entirely dusted in translucent crystals worn beneath a black satin opera coat lined in celadon. There were more pieces that suggested day and early evening and fewer overt set pieces.

The closing bridal gown, designed by Giorgio himself and finally shown this season—long-sleeved, fitted through the bodice, opening into a fluted skirt embroidered with circles of sequins—felt both personal and deliberate. It linked past and present without turning the collection into a memorial.

At Emporio Armani, that continuity is being tested in real time. The co-ed Winter 2026–2027 show, presented during the current Milan Fashion Week, was conceived as a unified statement for men and women. Check jackets appeared on both. Aviator silhouettes crossed the runway in succession. Blue evening suiting formed a closing sequence. White shirts ended the show in a coordinated sweep.

The staging moved quickly—with models in clusters and baker boy caps punctuating the looks—and within that movement, certain outfits stood out. A woman’s oversized biker jacket slouched over combat trousers, menswear in grey bird’s-eye tailoring, trousers cut loose under softly structured coats, an oxblood shearling with weight and depth, and a stitched black wool topcoat in yellow and white layered over gold-embroidered jeans and heavy boots. Accessories leaned playful—mohair leg warmers and elongated silk cravats looped and corded without overwhelming the clothes.

At times, the pace meant details flashed by too quickly. Armani has always relied on repetition and refinement; here the range felt broader, the ideas more numerous. Yet the foundation remained steady: relaxed tailoring, generous trousers, and eveningwear that favoured polish over spectacle. Shaggy chubbies, jersey wrap tops over silk pants, and tuxedo tailcoats set against mesh dresses with bow details—all part of the design language of the Italian maison, something that even Armani was long revered for.

What is emerging is a steady shift in direction rather than a sharp break. Silvana’s couture suggests ease and closeness to the wearer. Emporio is exploring cohesion and youth while holding onto the cut that established the brand. The suits remain central, with the rest of the collection built around them.

(Also read: Giorgio Armani, architect of modern style and red carpet glamour, dies at 91)

The future of Armani will depend on whether his successors can treat those propositions not as relics to be preserved under glass, but as tools—flexible enough to meet a world that no longer moves at his tempo.

Fashion may once have been measured in Before Armani and After Armani. Now it enters a subtler era: without Armani.