Giorgio Armani, owner of a superyacht, designs garments with simplicity, elegance, comfort, and utility. Thus, his 65-metre Codecasa yacht Maìn follows suit. Howarth reports.

I interviewed Giorgio Armani at the Cannes Film Festival thirteen years ago. We went there to witness the premiere of his buddy Martin Scorsese’s film Gangs of New York and spent an hour or so talking in the designer’s Martinez hotel suite overlooking the Croisette and Mediterranean. After finishing, we chatted on the balcony and I commented on the view.

“My Saint-Tropez house has this view,” he said. He gazed at sea. “That boat is awful.” The harbor held a huge white metal beast. His boat? I asked. Two years. “Brand new and 150 feet (45.7 metres) long,” he said. For Pantelleria.”

The 49.9-metre motor yacht Mariù, named after his mother, was his preferred holiday home on the small volcanic island of Pantelleria off Sicily (“the winds are African and the climate dry and it is so remote and dominated by the view of the dazzling deep blue sea that you could almost be on a boat,” Armani says).

Milan-area Piacenza was Armani’s hometown. He studied medicine as a youth. He quit to work as a window dresser at Milan’s Rinascente department store. He became a buyer there, then a designer for Nino Cerruti. He established himself. He never looked back.

Armani owns 100% of his company in an industry dominated by major groupings and companies. Its latest statistics revealed record revenues of over €2B and operating profit of over €400M.

“I just try to design clothes that are stylish and avoid the traps of transient trends,” he says modestly. I think a design concept of simplicity, beauty, comfort, and usefulness makes people look attractive.

After years of visiting others’, the designer decided to have his own by Cannes. They were chartered or owned by people I knew. They were always too white, bright, marble, crystal, and mahogany. He hates attention since he’s private.

“That’s why I don’t like hotels. That and the decor—big boats are like floating hotel rooms. My boat appeared ideal. I like being alone—Pantelleria is my home. I don’t only isolate on islands. I live in my creations. Disliked items are removed. You must create an environment.”