ONBOARD Magazine summer 2019

Sail or
Return
FROM THE FASHION LOUNGES TO HIS STELLAR
YACHT NAMED MAIN, GIORGIO ARMANI’S
PRINCIPLES FOR STYLE, SIMPLICITY AND
LUXURY ARE THERE FOR ALL TO SEE
WORDS: JAMES EVANS
Giorgio Armani has always gone about
his artistic craft by fulfilling a few
simple rules – be bold, be imposing,
be clean and be ruthless. It’s little surprise
then that while every suit, jumper, t-shirt,
leather jacket, pair of jeans, wristwatch
and fragrance fulfils strictly an Italian style
visionary’s modus operandum, his yacht
wilfully obeys the same rules too.
“The self-awareness of whatever it is we
do is an important thing,” says Armani,
opening up with perhaps a predictable dose
of raw philosophy. “We have to consider
the view from the outside as well as how
we perceive ourselves, as really we are a
combination of the two.
“A boat is very similar. Your own perception
of what it is, from the inside, on board, is
very different to almost everyone else’s, but
who is correct in their view? You, or them?”
Armani’s superyacht, Main, was built by
Codecasa in 2008. It measures 213ft long
and radiates in chic lines, rich-black matt
casing, gold piping and a formidable look
that is as imposing as it is unforgiving.
Put it alongside Steve Jobs’ Venus, Sailing
Yacht A (another Philippe Starck creation),
or perhaps even Guilty, complete with
haphazard Jeff Koons camouflage, and you
have four of the most bullish, statement-led
yachts in the world; yet if you had to pick
one, you’d only ever step foot on Armani’s
muscular mega-boat.
“It is fun for me,” the 84-year-old Italian
says. “I do not take it too seriously but it is
leisure, a home, but also a place for work.
“I always want to be working, and if I can
move around and be comfortable, then I’ll
work better. And that’s what Main gives me.”
Sure, the ‘work’ Armani refers to will obviously
include answering the odd email and perhaps
looking over the latest set of new-season
sketches put together by a design team
that has created for him a personal wealth
of over £8billion. Mostly though, when the
day job boards this superlatively dressed
yacht it is for the purpose of photo shoots.
After all, for someone who has always kept
his affairs close to home, where else would
the company’s founder suggest…
Armani’s tours on the yacht have taken him
to locations including Monaco and the Amalfi
Coast, though the designer has been known
to venture as far afield as Jamaica in his time
away from the catwalks. Having previously
taken the wheel at the yacht Mariù – named
after his mother – to sail around the small
volcanic island of Pantelleria, just off the
coast of Sicily, Armani admits he quickly
wanted to go further. “I had spent years
chartering and Mariù was a boat I was in
ONBOARD | SUMMER 2019 | 27