Selling his Volkswagen in 1975 was the best move Giorgio Armani ever made. Thirty years later, the business he set up with the proceeds has become one of the most valuable and most recognised brands on the planet. As president, chief executive and sole shareholder of a lifestyle brand valued by analysts at around €3bn, Mr Armani, the undisputed king of Oscar night, is probably the most commercially successful designer in post-war European history.

Yet as Milan fashion week draws to a close, Mr Armani, who turned 70 in July, faces a growing number of sceptics. Even if Anna Wintour, editor of Vogue in the US, described him as "perennially relevant" in a carefully-phrased introduction to the September issue, others are less charitable. In private, they say that Mr Armani has lost his cutting edge, is failing to renew his appeal to a new generation of discerning customers and urgently needs to clarify his plans for the future of his fashion empire.