arrivederci Giorgio

arrideverci Giorgio

by Lea Celik Sommerseth Shaw

I was on my way to London today but got caught up in paperwork. I am never not working, and the days always seem too short for everything I am handling. Today, however, marks a sad day.

Saint Germain Des Pres has always been more than neighborhoods for me and my kid, we landed here 2022 for some works I had scheduled, which is all in limbo for now, and as the incurable workaholic as I am, I find it extremely difficult, being disturbed from working in peace

I often go to the cafes at our neighbourhood, since I stopped renting office in Paris, and one of my favourite cafes is the Italian one, here is the neighbourhoods of the crowned kings of Italy: Marcello Mastroianni and Giorgio Armani.

Mastroianni gave the world a cinematic legacy of Italy — subtle, playful, deeply human. His presence on screen was not performance; it was a philosophy, elegance without arrogance, romance without vanity, Armani, and Fellini, Marcello could have easily been the trio, the essence of Italian elegance which both Fellini and Marcello holds, Armani had it too. Marcello would walk through the films of Fellini and Antonioni as though the streets of Rome, carrying with him the charm of a people, by the persona that never needed to much, to be unforgettable.

Armani, translated that same Italian signature spirit into the fabric and silhouettes. His vision of style stripped away excess, leaving purity, clarity, and quiet dignity, he was one of my favourites, when I was working on my Isik Designs in London for the British Fashion council, before my kid and I was commuting to Paris/ I always found Armani's designs to be definition of timeless elegance. His signature was his persona, woven in to the fabric, he was a master of details, but in a humble way and as for fashion its what Mastroianni did for cinema: they created timelessness.

Just the other day, I visited Armani’s café in Saint Germain Des Pres. I asked if they could forward my book on Marcello, a homage to both mine and Giorgio's favourite king of our Latin neighbourhoods, and I was told he would be arriving in spring.

To me, Marcello and Armani will always reign together this quarters. Not as rulers of empire or office, but as sovereigns and grace. They are reminder kingship can be measured not in conquest, but in true honest grace, integrity, and the quiet ability to inspire across generations.

arrivederci Giorgio, to me, you and Marcello will forever be the monarchs of Saint Germain Des Pres.

Lea Celik Sommerseth Shaw

4 September 2025 Saint Germaind Des Pres