In a letter to La Repubblica, Giorgio Armani makes an appeal for cohesion. In an international context marked by geopolitical tensions, ongoing wars, and the growing threat of new duties, the 90-year-old fashion designer urges pressing reflection on the future of Europe. His appeal not only calls for the defence of democratic values and European cooperation but also highlights the dangers of division and fragmentation to stability and prosperity. “Hearing these forces of disintegration not only saddens me but frightens me greatly. The thirst for conquest, the lust for power, can only cause great harm”.
The designer’s words
Giorgio Armani addresses his readers with a message of both hope and alarm: the European Union is the only means of avoiding collective weakening in the face of global challenges. At the heart of his reflection is the belief that “acting as one body does not erase the identity of individual states but strengthens it”. According to Armani, the European Union is not merely an economic or political entity but a reality of interconnectedness that enables its members to face common crises together. The strengthening of each individual member state’s identity, he argues, does not occur in isolation but through collaboration. For the fashion designer, this spirit of solidarity is the only antidote to the risks of disintegration.
The unstable scenario
Giorgio Armani’s letter comes at a time when the international landscape is marked by armed conflicts and protectionist policies that further destabilise an already fragile global order. Added to this is the rhetoric of sovereign-ism, which Armani describes as reckless. As a committed pacifist, he emphasises that only “unity, cooperation, and the defence of democratic principles can prevent the thirst for conquest and aggression from leading the world into a greater conflict”. And his final appeal: “Let us not disintegrate. Let us stand united. Let us defend democratic principles”.
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