Thousands of people paid tribute on Saturday to "king" Giorgio Armani, whose body lay in state at the Armani Teatro, a place emblematic of the close relationship between the designer and the Lombard capital.

The remains of the stylist, who died Thursday at the age of 91, are lying in state in a light wooden coffin, under a bouquet of white roses, before the funeral scheduled for Monday.

Imposing wreaths of roses were placed at the entrance to the room where the coffin lies, at the end of a corridor with raw concrete columns.

Colleagues and ordinary people flocked to pay their last respects in the morning, near Armani's headquarters in a former industrial district of Milan, before shaking hands with his partner Leo dell'Orco.

According to the Italian daily Corriere della Sera, Armani died of sudden liver failure, following pneumonia that forced him to be hospitalized in June.

A severe example

On the front line, in dark suits and sunglasses, hundreds of the group's employees came to sign the books of condolence.

"He was an incredible man, he had a big impact on us. He was a role model, severe, sometimes harsh, but very human," commented a heartbroken Silvia Albonetti, a saleswoman in the nearby Emporio Armani men's showroom.

The chapel of rest is open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. (7 a.m. to 4 p.m. GMT) Saturday and Sunday in the Teatro, a former Nestlé chocolate factory transformed in 2001 by Japanese architect Tadao Ando to become the headquarters of the Armani group and the venue for its fashion shows.

Minimalist and elegant, the building is one of the emblematic places of Milan, "the capital of style".

Armani, at the head of a multi-billion euro luxury empire with more than 600 boutiques worldwide and more than 9,000 employees by the end of 2023, had a "love affair" with the city, according to all the headlines in the Italian press, repeating one of his statements: "Milan is the center of my world, it has always inspired me."

"I came to pay tribute to a man who represented our city. It's the end of an era," Fanny Bucci, a 55-year-old woman from Milan who came with her mother, told AFP outside the entrance.

She loved his clothes for herself as well as for her children. "He demonstrated on many occasions that he was present, yet reserved."

"Transforming elegance"

"He reinforced the image of Italian design. And I saw pictures of him as a child in China; he was the first Italian I knew," said Jonah Liu, 29, wearing an Armani T-shirt with his image. "The Italian economy was very strong during his heyday. That era is saying goodbye to us."

This engineering student in Milan prepared a letter (in Mandarin) for Mr. Armani: "You have transformed Italian elegance into a general grammar for fashion. You have taught us that simplicity can be rich and kindness can be strong," he wrote to him.

Giorgio Armani, born in Piacenza (northern Italy) in 1934 into a modest family of Armenian origin, came to study medicine before working as a window dresser and decorator in Milan for the La Rinascente department store.

It was in this city that he created the Giorgio Armani fashion house in 1975, and had always wanted to remain independent, refusing to be listed on the stock exchange.

Giorgio Armani, who has been weakened for several months, was forced to cancel his men's fashion shows in Milan in mid-June for health reasons.

In an interview with the Financial Times published a few days before his death, the designer, who had no children, said that plans for his succession consisted of "a gradual transition of responsibilities" to his "closest collaborators such as Leo Dell'Orco," the head of men's design, "members of (his) family and the entire work team."

AFP