Giorgio Armani is to leave his legacy of work to the city of Milan, the fashion icon said Monday.
"Milan is my city, it gave birth to me and nurtured my growth," the Piacenza-born designer said, announcing the creation of an Armani museum in the heart of the Milanese fashion district.
He said he hoped the museum in Via Borgognone, created by award-winning Japanese architect Tadao Ando, might "inspire young aspiring designers, put a gleam in a housewife's eye, or merely confirm that I was a fashion genius".
Armani, 72, was speaking ahead of Monday's night's vernissage for the return home of his seven-year travelling retrospective after stops in New York, Bilbao, Berlin, London, Rome, Tokyo and Shanghai.
It is the first time that Milan's prestigious architecture showcase, the Triennale, has hosted a show by a fashion designer.
"Armani is above all a creator and interpreter of a sense of the imaginary world," said Triennale President Davide Rampello, hailing Armani as "much more than a designer".
Rampello said the show - open to the public from Tuesday till April 1 - highlights a "potent imaginary force of our time".
Armani said he used to come to the Triennale for ideas.
"I never imagined one day I'd have my own show here".
The show, curated by Italian art guru Germano Celant and designed by avant-garde US theatre director Bob Wilson, features 600 creations from a 40-year career that has left indelible marks on the fashion and showbiz worlds.
"It charts his progression from minimalist to androgynist to Orientalist, illuminated by the colours of Matisse," Celant said.
Reflecting Armani's role as designer to the stars - and the man behind the female 'power suit' - the vernissage will be adorned by Italian screen beauty Ornella Muti and pop superstar Tina Turner.
One gallery is dedicated to Armani's relationship with the entertainment world, including the famed deconstructed jackets that set off Richard Gere's sex appeal in American Gigolo'.
The Italian press has hailed the event as The Return of King George and featured tributes from the likes of Jodie Foster, who said "he gave me the elegance I had in my head but couldn't transfer to my body".
Harrison Ford put it more succintly:
"Armani has become an adjective".
