Giorgio Armani Breaks His Silence On His Male Lovers

With an estimated worth of over $13 billion, Giorgio Armani has been a fashion powerhouse since launching his namesake label in 1975.

The Italian designer, who turned 90 in July, is also immensely reserved and has rarely spoken on his private life. While he’s considered to be part of the LGBT+ community, one of the last instances of him addressing his sexuality was in a Vanity Fair article from 2000 where he noted: “I have had women in my life. And sometimes men.” 

But in a new and very personal interview, Armani has opened up about his relationships with male lovers throughout his life and shared intimate details of these special romances.

After disclosing that he lost his virginity to a girl in his class, Armani spoke candidly about his first male crush that occurred while at summer camp.

“I’ve never talked about this. It happened under a shed on the beach at Misano, at 5 in the afternoon, when all the boys from the summer camp were supposed to have a bit of a quiet time.”

While he didn’t fully elaborate if he had an actual experience or if it was the first time he had same-sex feelings, the object of Armani’s burgeoning affection was for one of the camp counsellors.

“I was in a group of boys, and there was a supervisor, a young man, who I felt immediately attracted to. I didn’t fully understand it at the time, and I didn’t pursue it,” he said. “But from that moment on, my life took a different turn.”

Like many young boys, Armani’s “gay awakening” left him confused and excited.

“I didn’t understand what it was. I didn’t distinguish between men and women at the time. It was just an attraction I felt, something beautiful: I couldn’t wait to be near him, to be touched …  I felt a huge connection,” he added, before taking pause to honour what a monumental moment that was in his life.

I’ve never told anyone about this. It’s still a very emotional memory for me.”

In the ’60s, Armani met architect Sergio Galeotti. The duo became business partners, but even more importantly, they were in a relationship for more than a decade.

“We met near the Capannina night club, in Versilia, where I was on holiday for a couple of days,” he recounted. “I saw Sergio in his car and I immediately fell for his Tuscan smile.”

Armani and Galeotti were together throughout the ’70s and ’80s, until tragedy hit. In 1985, Galeotti died from complications due to AIDS and Armani was left completely devastated.

“When Sergio died, a part of me died with him. I must say I’m still amazed that I found within myself the resilience to withstand such an immense pain,” Armani shared.

“I had to tap into my willpower to deal with all the pain and anguish. A whole year spent next to Sergio in his hospital bed. And it all happened as our career was taking off, when we were becoming known, setting up our company, reaching worldwide fame. It was the moment I was gaining confidence in myself, and then this blow hit me.”

For the last several decades, Armani has had his collaborator Leo Dell’Orco, who is the Head of the Men’s Style Office for all collections, at his side.

While the pair are not legally married, Armani wears a ring on his left hand as a symbol of their enduring relationship. “It’s a wonderful ring with a diamond. Leo gave it to me.” Despite their strong connection, Armani is still hesitant to say he is in love with Dell’Orco.

“I’m a bit indifferent to that. I think it over and realise there’s no point in being in love and giving it so little space, because I just don’t have that much space,” he clarified. “But I have deep affection for Leo Dell’Orco, who has lived with me for years and is the person closest to me.”

For now, Armani shows no sign of slowing down as he’s set to debut his spring 2025 collection on Thursday, 17 October.

Bronski Beat’s “Why?” Gets Reinvented With a Striking New Video 40 Years After its Original Release

This month marks the 40th anniversary of The Age Of Consent, the landmark debut album from British synth-pop trio Bronski Beat, initially made up of musicians Jimmy Somerville, Steve Bronski, and Larry Steinbachek.

Powerful, propulsive, and unabashedly gay, the group’s music was a much needed calling card for the LGBT+ community in the ’80s, especially at a time when Margaret Thatcher’s conservative reign was actively silencing queer voices and HIV/AIDS continued to spread.

While first single “Smalltown Boy” remains Bronski Beat’s most enduring hit, their follow up “Why?” is just as potent and deserves to also be remembered as a timeless LGBT+ anthem.

The song was inspired by – and dedicated to – friend of the band Drew Griffiths, a gay playwright who was chased out of the country by his boyfriend’s angry family and eventually murdered.

Lyrically, “Why?” doesn’t hold back, nor does it attempt to mask its righteous queer themes in metaphor. “Contempt in your eyes when I turn to kiss his lips”, vocalist Sommerville sings. “Broken I lie, all my feelings denied, blood on your fist.”

Over cascading synths and a wail of horns, the chorus repeats the question, “Can you tell me why?”, begging, pleading for someone to explain the point of the ceaseless homophobic violence. Meanwhile, the bridge offers a defiant rallying cry: “You and me together, fighting for our love.”

Upon its release “Why?” came complete with a conceptual video, which featured Sommerville as a butcher in a market overrun by gluttonous consumers. When what we can assume is meant to be a gay couple have their money refused at the counter, Sommerville defends them before being dragged away to a court where judges are being puppeteered by a spiteful god. He’s then sent to work on a messy, factory line job, where he eventually leads the others in a riotous protest.

Filmed on an intricate set in a single soundstage, the video is actually quite striking, though it’s been said Bronski Beat was “never happy” with the visuals as they felt “frivolous and sidestepped the anger and passion behind the song.”

Considering “Why” was written in memory of a friend lost to violence and is so direct and urgent in its lyrical messaging, it’s not hard to see why the band members might have preferred something more to the point.

In the four decades since, Bronski Beat’s roster changed a number of times, and Sommerville split off to pursue projects of his own. Today, he’s the only surviving member of the original trio (Steinbachek passed in late 2016, and Bronski in 2021).

In celebration of The Age Of Consent‘s 40th anniversary, Sommerville wanted to honour his bandmates’ legacies, as well as the generations of fans who have been empowered by the trio’s trailblazing work. Along with a deluxe, remastered re-release of the album, he also commissioned a new video for “Why?”, tapping filmmaker and activist Matt Lambert to reimagine visuals that would match the song’s revolutionary spirit and perpetual timeliness.

The result is “Why?”, a hybrid documentary and music video that uses Bronski Beat’s towering anthem to link the past to the present. Lambert assembles archival footage to set the scene of the early ’80s, providing some context for the fraught era that birthed the song.

But as the synth beats fades in and Sommerville wails, “tell me whyyyyy?”, the clips jump through time, right up to this very minute, alternating between scenes of real-world cruelty and homophobia to moments of unity and celebration.

“It was such a dream to look into the past and future with Jimmy,” director Matt Lambert shares in a press statement. “This project was born out of an ongoing dialogue about the past and our ongoing responsibilities to protect what we’ve fought so hard for.”

In an ’84 interview with the Record Mirror, Sommerville shared the song was about “a constant fight for your right to love and that’s a right everybody should have – to love who they want.” Today he adds: “I never thought a song that we wrote in 1984 would resonate even more powerfully in 2024.”

As wrenching and heartbreaking as some of the footage in the new “Why?” video may be, it stands to remind us of what Bronski Beat always hoped we’d take away from their music: We’re here, we have always been here, and we’re not going anywhere as long as we stand by one another.

It’s no accident that the new, extended mix of the song brings its bridge to the end, letting Sommerville sing, “you and me together, fighting for our love” as a final, hopeful note of resistance.

Rainbow Lottery Super Draw!

Please support Out In The City by buying a Rainbow Lottery ticket or two (or more!)

With each Rainbow Lottery ticket, you are not just entering to win exciting prizes, you are also supporting our mission to support older LGBT+ people.

It’s a vital part of our fundraising as we receive 50p for every £1 spent and you have the chance to win cash prizes each week from £25 for three numbers up to a jackpot of £25,000 for six numbers – while helping us to achieve more for the LGBT+ communities over 50 years.

Buy tickets here.

This month we have a terrific tech prize for you. On Saturday 26 October, one lucky person will win the just-released iPhone 16 Pro!

This top-of-the-line phone is built for Apple Intelligence, for a whole new smartphone experience. It comes in Grade 5 Titanium with a Super Retina XDR display with a state-of-the-art GPU for gaming, and the most advanced iPhone camera system yet, for professional photos and the highest quality video in a smartphone!

Your regular weekly tickets already enter you into the draw to win this fantastic prize – but did you know you can now top-up your tickets, just for the Super Draw weeks!? And just imagine what you could do with this huge prize …

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