Giorgio Armani's sartorial creations interplay with Italian masterpieces at Milan museum exhibition

MILAN (AP) — Giorgio Armani hesitated at first when the Brera Art Gallery proposed an exhibition celebrating the 50th anniversary of his signature label, placing his creations among celebrated Italian masterpieces by such luminaries as Raphael and Caravaggio.

But by the time Armani reached the gallery’s final room on a visit aimed at winning him over, the designer, who became one of the most recognizable names in global fashion, was already mapping out which sartorial creations would best interplay with the Brera’s artistic treasures.

“Giorgio Armani, Milano, for love,’’ featuring 129 Armani looks from the 1980s through the present day, opens Wednesday at the Brera Art Gallery, just weeks after the designer’s death on Sept. 4 at the age of 91. The exhibition is one of a series of Milan Fashion Week events planned before his death to highlight Armani’s transformative influence on fashion.

“From the start, Armani showed absolute rigor but also humility not common to great fashion figures,’’ said the gallery's director Angelo Crespi. “He always said that he did not want to enter into close dialogue with great masterpieces, like Raphael, Mantegna, Caravaggio and Piero della Francesca.’’

Instead, the exhibition aims to create a symbiosis with the artworks, with the chosen looks reflecting the mood of each room without interrupting the flow of the museum experience, much the way Armani always intended his apparel to enhance and never overwhelm or exploit the individual.

During the exploratory tour, Armani was particularly moved by Andrea Mantegna’s “Lamentation over the Dead Christ,’' a Brera masterpiece that meditates on death with realism, and he specified that his pieces should not be placed in direct view, said Chiara Rostagno, the Brera’s deputy director.

Behind it, a long blue asymmetrical skirt and bodysuit ensemble worn by Juliette Binoche at Cannes in 2016 reflects the blue in Giovanni Bellini's 1510 portrait “Madonna and Child.”

The show opens with a midnight blue velvet dress featuring a quasi-ecclesiastical embroidered panel with Maltese crosses that play nicely against the frescoed chapel backdrop. A trio of underlit dresses glow on a wall opposite Raphael's "The Marriage of the Virgin,'' their creases and draping in some way reflecting the Renaissance master’s careful geometry.

The famed soft-shouldered suit worn by Richard Gere in “American Gigolo,” arguably the garment that launched Armani to global fame, is set among detached frescoes by Donato Bramante, the slate gray of the suit picking up on the frescoes' architectural details.

The seamless juxtapositions of 1980s looks alongside his most recent garments throughout the exhibition underscore the timelessness of Armani’s fashion.

Armani himself makes a cameo, on a T-shirt in the final room, opposite the Brera's emblematic painting “Il Bacio,” or “The Kiss,” by Francesco Hayez.

“When I walk around, I think he would be super proud,’’ said Anoushka Borghesi, Armani’s global communications director.

Armani has been celebrated with museum exhibitions in the past, but the Brera show is particularly fitting as the museum abuts Armani’s home and historic offices and showroom. Armani had a long relationship with the museum, and the Academy of Fine Arts, housed in the Brera museum complex, bestowed Armani with an honorary title in 1993.

Honoring the designer’s commitment to his work, Armani’s fashion house confirmed a series of events this week that Armani himself had planned to celebrate his 50th anniversary.

They include the announcement of an initiative to support education for children in six Southeast Asian, African and South American countries. The project, in conjunction with the Catholic charity Caritas, is named “Mariu’,’’ an affectionate nickname for Armani’s mother.

In a final farewell, the last Giorgio Armani collection signed by the designer will be shown in the Brera Gallery on Sunday, among looks he personally chose to represent his 50-year legacy. The exhibition remains open until Jan. 11.

A plaster model of a portrait statue of Napoleon I by Antonio Canova (1803-1806) looms over Giorgio Armani's creations on display during the exhibition “Giorgio Armani – 50 Years” at the Pinacoteca di Brera in Milan, Italy, Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

Giorgio Armani's creations are displayed in front of Gentile and Giovanni Bellini's painting “The Preaching of Saint Mark in a Square in Alexandria, Egypt" (1504-1507), during the exhibition "Giorgio Armani - 50 Years," which opened to the public at the Pinacoteca di Brera in Milan, Italy, Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

Giorgio Armani's creations are displayed during the exhibition "Giorgio Armani - 50 Years" opened to the public at the Pinacoteca di Brera in Milan, Italy, Wednesday, Sept. 24 2025. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

A Giorgio Armani's creation is displayed during the exhibition "Giorgio Armani - 50 Years" opened to the public at the Pinacoteca di Brera in Milan, Italy, Wednesday, Sept. 24 2025. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

Giorgio Armani's creations are displayed during the exhibition "Giorgio Armani - 50 Years" opened to the public at the Pinacoteca di Brera in Milan, Italy, Wednesday, Sept. 24 2025. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

Giorgio Armani's creations are displayed during the exhibition "Giorgio Armani - 50 Years" opened to the public at the Pinacoteca di Brera in Milan, Italy, Wednesday, Sept. 24 2025. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

Giorgio Armani's creations are backdropped by the painting by Francesco Hayez titled "The Kiss", during the exhibition "Giorgio Armani - 50 Years" opened to the public at the Pinacoteca di Brera in Milan, Italy, Wednesday, Sept. 24 2025. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

NUUK, Greenland (AP) — Troops from several European countries, including France, Germany, the UK, Norway and Sweden, are arriving in Greenland in a show of support for Denmark as talks between representatives of Denmark, Greenland and the U.S. on Wednesday highlighted “fundamental disagreement” between the Trump administration and European allies on the future of the Arctic island.

Denmark announced it would increase its military presence in Greenland on Wednesday and several European partners started sending symbolic numbers of troops on that day, just as the Danish and Greenlandic foreign ministers were preparing to meet with White House representatives in Washington.

The troop movements were intended to portray unity among Europeans and send a signal to U.S. President Donald Trump that an American takeover of Greenland is not necessary as NATO together can safeguard the security of the Arctic region amid rising Russian and Chinese interest.

“The first French military elements are already en route” and “others will follow,” French President Emmanuel Macron announced Wednesday, as French authorities said about 15 soldiers from the mountain infantry unit were already in Nuuk for a military exercise.

Germany will deploy a reconnaissance team of 13 personnel to Greenland on Thursday, its Defense Ministry said.

On Thursday, Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen said the intention was “to establish a more permanent military presence with a larger Danish contribution,” according to Danish broadcaster DR. He said soldiers from several NATO countries will be in Greenland on a rotation system.

Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, flanked by his Greenlandic counterpart Vivian Motzfeldt, said Wednesday that a “fundamental disagreement” over Greenland remains with Trump after they held highly anticipated talks at the White House with Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Rasmussen added that it remains “clear that the president has this wish of conquering over Greenland” but that dialogue with the U.S. would continue at a high level over the following weeks.

Inhabitants of Greenland and Denmark reacted with anxiety but also some relief that negotiations with the U.S. would go on and European support was becoming visible.

In Greenland’s capital, Nuuk, local residents told The Associated Press they were glad the first meeting between Greenlandic, Danish and American officials had taken place but suggested it left more questions than answers.

Several people said they viewed Denmark’s decision to send more troops, and promises of support from other NATO allies, as protection against possible U.S. military action. But European military officials have not suggested the goal is to deter a U.S. move against the island.

Maya Martinsen, 21, agreed and said it was “comforting to know that the Nordic countries are sending reinforcements” because Greenland is a part of Denmark and NATO.

The dispute, she said, is not about “national security” but rather about “the oils and minerals that we have that are untouched.”

On Wednesday, Poulsen had announced a stepped-up military presence in the Arctic “in close cooperation with our allies,” calling it a necessity in a security environment in which “no one can predict what will happen tomorrow.”

“This means that from today and in the coming time there will be an increased military presence in and around Greenland of aircraft, ships and soldiers, including from other NATO allies,” Poulsen said.

Asked whether the European troop movements were coordinated with NATO or what role the U.S.-led military alliance might play in the exercises, NATO referred all questions to the Danish authorities. However, NATO is currently studying ways to bolster security in the Arctic.

Rasmussen, the Danish foreign minister, announced the creation of a working group with the Americans to discuss ways to work through differences.

“The group, in our view, should focus on how to address the American security concerns, while at the same time respecting the red lines of the Kingdom of Denmark,” he said.

Commenting on the outcome of the Washington meeting on Thursday, Poulsen said the working group was “better than no working group” and “a step in the right direction.” He added nevertheless that the dialogue with the U.S. did not mean “the danger has passed.”

“We are really happy that action is being taken to make sure that this discussion is not just ended with that meeting alone,” Greenlandic MP Aki-Matilda Høegh-Dam said on Thursday during a news conference in Copenhagen.

She said Greenlandic people understood they were a “pivotal point” in a broader transformation of the international rules-based order and that they felt responsible not just for themselves but also for the whole world to get it right.

Høegh-Dam said the military operations should not happen “right next to our schools and right next to our kindergartens.”

Line McGee, a 38-year-old from Copenhagen, told AP that she was glad to see some diplomatic progress. “I don’t think the threat has gone away,” she said. “But I feel slightly better than I did yesterday.”

Speaking to FOX News Channel’s Special Report on Wednesday after the White House talks, Rasmussen rejected both a military takeover and the potential purchase of the island by the U.S. Asked whether he thinks the U.S. will invade, he replied: “No, at least I do not hope so, because, I mean, that would be the end of NATO.”

Rasmussen said Greenlanders were unlikely to vote for U.S. rule even if financial incentives were offered, “because I think there’s no way that U.S. will pay for a Scandinavian welfare system in Greenland, honestly speaking.”

“You haven’t introduced a Scandinavian welfare system in your own country,” he added.

Trump, in his Oval Office meeting with reporters, said: “We’ll see how it all works out. I think something will work out.”

Niemann reported from Copenhagen, Denmark, and Ciobanu from Warsaw, Poland.

Denmark's Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen and Greenland's Foreign Minister Vivian Motzfeldt speak at a news conference at the Embassy of Denmark, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/John McDonnell)

People walk on a street in Nuuk, Greenland, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

From center to right, Greenland Foreign Minister Vivian Motzfeldt, Denmark's Ambassador Jesper Møller Sørensen, rear, and Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, right, arrive on Capitol Hill to meet with senators from the Arctic Caucus, in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

An Airbus A400M transport aircraft of the German Air Force taxis over the grounds at Wunstorf Air Base in the Hanover region, Germany, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026 as troops from NATO countries, including France and Germany, are arriving in Greenland to boost security. (Moritz Frankenberg/dpa via AP)

Fishermen load fishing lines into a boat in the harbor of Nuuk, Greenland, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

Greenland Foreign Minister Vivian Motzfeldt, left, and Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, arrive on Capitol Hill to meet with members of the Senate Arctic Caucus, in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)