Sawt Falasteen - Versace leads crowds bidding farewell to Giorgio Armani

Italian fashion icon Donatella Versace was among those who filed past Armani's closed casket at the headquarters of his multi-billion-euro lifestyle company, which marked its 50th anniversary this year.

Adorned with a bouquet of white roses, the designer's closed wooden casket was laid out in a darkened room lit by paper candles, an image of Armani shown on a big screen.

The Italian died Thursday after months of fragile health and will be laid to rest at a private funeral on Monday.

Hundreds of people queued up for the start of the two-day public viewing at the Teatro Armani, the company's minimalist but luxurious headquarters in Milan.

Among the first mourners through the door was a large group of Armani staff, all in black mourning wear and black sunglasses.

"It's so emotional," said Silvia Albonetti, an Emporio Armani saleswoman. "He was an incredible man... sometimes curt, but human.".

Tributes have flooded in for Armani from across the fashion industry and also Hollywood, where his understated but exquisitely tailored creations were beloved of the A-list.

Ferrari chairman John Elkann was also among the mourners on Saturday, many of whom were greeted by the coffin by Armani's partner Pantaleo Dell'Orco.

Throughout his remarkable career, Armani kept top-to-bottom control of his company as it moved from fashion into luxury hotels, cosmetics, accessories and interiors.

When he died, he was one of the richest men in the world, with a net worth estimated at $11.8 billion, according to Forbes magazine.

"Every fashion show was pure magic," fashion student Pietro Angeleri, 20, told AFP as he queued to pay his last respects.

"No one has managed to make women stand out like he did. He will be missed."

- Liver problems -

The company has not revealed the cause of Armani’s death, but Italy's Corriere della Sera newspaper reported Saturday he had been suffering from liver failure.

He was hospitalised with viral bronchopneumonia in June in Milan, it said, which left him weakened, even if he seemed to recover.

Armani cancelled his menswear show in Milan due to health reasons, and also missed the Paris Armani Prive show on doctors' orders.

After his 91st birthday on July 11, which he celebrated with a small family party, long-standing problems with his liver returned, Corriere said.

He had kept working almost to the end, finalising outfits for the show celebrating the company's 50th anniversary at Milan Fashion Week at the end of the month -- which will now act as his final farewell.

- 'End of an era' -

Born in Piacenza in northern Italy, the young Armani first enrolled in medical school but moved into fashion after a stint as a window dresser at a Milan department store.

By 1973, Armani had opened his own Milan design studio and created his debut eponymous collection in 1975.

The city, which adopted him as its own, has declared the day of his funeral a day of mourning, although the ceremony itself is strictly private.

Armani "represented our city", said Fanny Bucci, a 55-year-old local who visited the coffin on Saturday. "It's the end of an era."

The designer was credited with inventing red-carpet fashion after he opened an office in Los Angeles in 1983 with the aim of dressing celebrities, and said cinema provided him with a constant source of inspiration.

"He reinforced the image of Italian design. And I saw pictures of him as a child in China -- he was the first Italian I knew," said Chinese student Jonah Liu, 29, wearing a t-shirt adorned with Armani's image.

Armani had no children, and his death leaves a question mark over the future of his empire.

In his final interview published just days before his death, he namechecked Dell'Orco, who heads Armani's men's style office, among family and close friends to whom he was gradually transferring responsibility.

His nieces Roberta and Silvana Armani work for the group, while his nephew Andrea Camerana is a board member.

In their statement marking his death, his family and employees committed "to protecting what he built and to carrying his company forward in his memory".

The public viewing will last all day Saturday and all day Sunday at the Teatro, a former Nestle chocolate factory where Armani showcased his creations.

W.Mansour--SF-PST