FEBRUARY EDITORIAL

What will happen to fashion following the passing of Giorgio Armani and Valentino Garavani? Their departure from the scene represents more than just the loss of two historical figures; it could mark the symbolic end of an idea of fashion that the current system seems no longer able to sustain.

With them goes a generation of creators who conceived fashion as a discipline, a responsibility, and a cultural vision—not as content to be rapidly consumed.

Armani and Valentino were not merely protagonists; they were architects of language. The former deconstructed authority by softening silhouettes, freeing the body from formal cages, and teaching us that elegance is balance, measure, and respect. The latter elevated fashion to an absolute gesture, a celebration of beauty as a non-negotiable value, a ritual capable of suspending time. Two opposite poles, both necessary. Together, they defined the alphabet of Italian elegance.

Above all, they represented the value of slowness in a world that today lives on hysterical accelerations. They built collections like chapters of a coherent, recognizable discourse intended to last. The current system, by contrast, devours everything: designers, aesthetics, archives, even legacies. Creative directors are rotated at an industrial pace, collections are designed more for the algorithm than for the body, and historic brands are reduced to empty vessels for “moments” rather than ideas.

In this context, the absence of Armani and Valentino must make us reflect. Their existence represented a limit, a natural brake on excess. Armani didn’t need to shout; Valentino didn’t need to justify his grandeur. Their authority was not born of clamor, but of consistency. Today, however, fashion seems to have replaced authority with visibility, thought with performance, and identity with marketing strategy.

I have the impression that the contemporary fashion system talks constantly about the future but struggles to build it. It lives on citations, revivals, and reboots, while quickly consuming those who truly try to propose a vision. If you pay attention, you can see how the archive has become a creative life-jacket rather than a tool for knowledge. Without Armani and Valentino to guard the sense of history, the risk is that memory becomes purely aesthetic, emptied of ethics. The concept of “Made in Italy” is also more under scrutiny today than ever before. For Armani and Valentino, it was a process, a method, a profound dialogue with artisans, materials, real bodies—garments they knew not only how to design, but also how to cut, sew, and create. I have seen them working with (Italian) seamstresses to adjust precious details on evening gowns. Today, Made in Italy is often reduced to storytelling, while production becomes fragmented, outsourced, and dematerialized.

This is why their legacy poses an uncomfortable question to the system: can we continue to sell luxury without a culture of craftsmanship that truly supports it? The theme of elegance most highlights this crisis. Armani taught the power of subtraction, Valentino the power of absolute beauty. Today, elegance has been replaced by impact, short-term provocation, and visual noise. Everything must be “strong,” “iconic,” or “viral.” Nothing seems intended to last. In this scenario, the absence of the masters is not just nostalgic: it is structural.

Yet, their passing also leaves a precise responsibility. Not to look for new “solitary geniuses” to idolize, but the need to rethink a system that currently consumes creativity faster than it can produce it. Armani and Valentino demonstrate that fashion can be silent power, rigorous beauty, and a long-term project. All of which seem incompatible with today’s market rhythms.

I hope that in the near future, the fashion world does not limit itself to celebrating them with exhibitions, events, and anniversaries. I believe their teaching cannot be reduced to a heritage to be exploited, but must represent a model from which to restart. Because without them, the system will finally be forced to look at itself in the mirror.

The question we must ask ourselves, then, is not who the “new Armani” or “new Valentino” will be. The real question is whether contemporary fashion is still capable of supporting figures of that stature, or if it has definitively chosen to do without them. And this, more than any trend, will be its true statement of style.

Cristina and Daniela