In 2023 Giorgio Armani wore two championships. They carry the brand EA7 Emporio Armanithe sports branch of his group, the uniforms of Napoli, champion of Italy in football and those of the Olimpia Milano basketball team, of which he has been patron since 2008 and main sponsor since 2004, which last year achieved its thirtieth championship, the fifth of the Armani era.
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It's not just about currencies and investments, for Giorgio Armani it's passion. «Sport», he said to Republic in 2022 after his Olimpia's fourth championship, the one that came after the two years of the pandemic, «he still has the ability to excite, to amaze because it's true, it's an area in which you put in effort and then you really see the effort and the result.” He compared teamwork as he understands it in fashion to that of Olimpia with Ettore Messina as coach. King George would see himself as a “playmaker, as in work”, he said to Corriere della Sera, in the family sport, his brother practiced it. «I have always loved sport, so much so that I have made it an integral part of my work, including inspiration, research, collaborations and a line, the EA7 Emporio Armani, expressly dedicated. I believe in the positive power of the competitive act: the intelligent use of discipline and the habit of fair challenge create a mixture that energizes athletes and spectators. Basketball is one of my favorite team sports.”
«I like to remember that 40% of the Olimpia audience is female. I believe that all this contributes to creating an enthusiastic and lively climate” she said. Not only the Olimpia public, but many women in sport are linked to the name and clothes of Giorgio Armani.
Leafing through images of fashion shows from the last 15 years Federica Pellegrini it almost never fails, like Flavia Pennettathe only Italian capable of winning the US Open, together with her husband Fabio Fognini. And still the volleyball star Paola Egonuambassador of the EA7 brand, as Sofia Goggia.
The ski champion told and posted an anecdote on social media. On Sunday 18 December 2022, after an injury in the race and a quick operation, she found herself at Armani's house, not exactly elegant. «The Christmas photos are beautiful, but would you like to include this one from a few days ago St. Moritz at 10pm? If I told you that: after a World Cup downhill in which I made the podium and broke my hand, a journey of hope to Milan, a surgical operation complete with general anesthesia, I entered Giorgio Armani's house – meeting him! – in exactly this state, with that nice blue fleece that I got from a drying rack in the hospital and this shocked face and the bleeding hand, still dressed for skiing, would you believe me?
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A year after that fleece meeting Sofia Goggia became Armani ambassador and testimonial of EA7 Emporio Armani, which has its mark on the entire Italian winter sports team. I am Armani athletesamong others, Simone Barlaam for swimming, Lorenzo Sonego, winner of the Davis Cup, for tennis, Simone Giannelli for volleyball.
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There have always been athletes at the fashion shows and among the brand's testimonials: from Nadal to Beckham, from Luis Figo to Andry Shevchenkoa friend of the stylist who wrote the afterword to his biography, praising the gentle strength of the former footballer. With him the passing of the Turin 2006 Olympic torch.
In that Olympics it wasn't yet Armani who dressed the Azzurri. The collaboration began in London 2012 and is confirmed until Milano Cortina 2026. EA7, the line created in 2004 as a sports version of Emporio Armani, is the Official Outfitter of Italia Team. The seven comes from Sheva who played with the number 7 shirt. And to be romantic, the protagonist of De Gregori's football team also played with the number seven shirt, what you see as a player by the courage, altruism and imagination, which make for such an Olympic spirit.
The Azzurri wore the Armani uniforms, after London 2012, in the Rio 2016 Summer Games, with blue predominating in the Olympic kit, and Tokyo 2020the record ones postponed for a year due to Covid, with two different uniforms, a white one for the podium, with the roundel of the rising sun in the center colored tricolor, a desired homage to two nations.
Three Winter Olympics: Sochi 2014, PyeongChang 2018 and Beijing 2022. And all the corresponding Paralympics. On the occasion of the presentation of Milan Cortina 2026 Giorgio Armani explained: «EA7 Emporio Armani is synonymous with technical research and style: dressing the athletes again will allow me to demonstrate the union of these two components on the field, during such an important event».
The designer also received the Coni Golden Collar, an honor reserved for athletes. «When I was young we were coming out of the war, the gyms were a large room with a rope, a horse and a Swedish painting. Little by little I appreciated the sport and realized that it was a real thing. Then I took other paths, but I got “revenge” and thought about sports in my own way, dressing sportsmen, and even spending a lot of money on a basketball team. I'm proud and a little moved.”
Armani's sporting side also brings a beneficial one. Sports faces / Faces of Sport is a 2004 photographic book edited by the stylist with photos of these sports champions alongside images of athletes with mental disabilities of Special Olympics. «Of Athletes», writes Armani «it is always the body that fascinates. But the secret of their will, of enthusiasm, of passion, can be read in their faces, can be guessed from their looks. Because they have unusual faces, the men and women portrayed in this book, strong and vital. Sports faces.” Portraits from Annie Leibovitz, Peter Lindbergh, Mario Testino to Bruce Weber include, among others, Carl Lewis, Serena Williams, Tiger Woods, David Beckham, Francesco Totti.
And again the collaboration with Djokovic Foundationthe Armani Junior Program to introduce young people to basketball and cheering in a positive way, the donation by Olimpia of one million euros to support Lombard hospital facilities during the Covid emergency, the 2016 exhibition at Armani Silos Emotions of the Athletic Bodywith the most beautiful images of athletes who have posed for the brand's campaigns from 1985 onwards.
All medals that add to the Olympic and Paralympic ones, from Gianmarco Tamberi at Bebe Vio: hundreds of awards Armani clothes that certainly wears well. Proof? The 2020 European Football Championships, moved to 2021 due to pandemic. Giorgio Armani designed the formal uniform of the Italian national team, a tribute to Enzo Bearzotcoach of the 1982 world champions, iconic figure of national football: light blue/white jacket with mandarin collar and black trousers.
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Italy, it is difficult to forget, won those European Championships and the designer's message is a synthesis of the spirit of that triumph: «I am proud to dress our national team in this moment of restart, and in such an important championship. I worked on an idea of ​​spontaneous and sporty elegance, with an authentic spirit. I imagined a light dress but full of dignity, just as dignified and proud our spirit must be at this moment».
It was not the first time that Armani signed the Azzurri of football: his are the uniforms of USA 94 and those of 2019 with the women's world cup. The designer from Piacenza has touched a lot of other football, from the English national team to Bayern Munich, from Chelsea to Newcastle. Armani style also wins in the world of sport.
Source: Vanity Fair
I’m Susan Karen, a professional writer and editor at World Stock Market. I specialize in Entertainment news, writing stories that keep readers informed on all the latest developments in the industry. With over five years of experience in creating engaging content and copywriting for various media outlets, I have grown to become an invaluable asset to any team.
