Giorgio Armani’s final bow: A visionary’s death leaves a void in high

analysis

Giorgio Armani takes part in the Trofeo Zegna sailing race in Portofino, Italy, in 2000. As the sole owner of his global fashion brand, Mr. Armani was one of the richest men in Europe.

The death of a creative icon often comes adorned with the hackneyed and overworked phrase “end an era,” as if his or her passing was on par with the fall of Saigon or the Berlin Wall.

It is only a small exaggeration to say that the death of Giorgio Armani on Thursday, at 91 in Milan, marked the end of an era. He was more than one of the greatest creative forces in fashion since the 1970s. He was also a fiercely independent entrepreneur who refused to sell out to a French firm, as many of his Italian rivals did, apparently fearing that his company’s born-and-bred Italian identity would vanish in