For the November 2003 issue, AD boarded Armani’s 150-foot yacht, called Mariù, which he kept docked in Saint-Tropez. (The designer also owned a beautiful dwelling in the seaside town, which received its own AD spread in 2015.) By this time, he’d launched Armani/Casa, and outfitted the boat’s elegant interiors with pieces from the collection. From stern to bow, the boat was a lesson in restrained elegance, with plenty of teak wood and muted, calming shades.
In this tour, the designer expressed his disdain for staying in hotels, which explains why he purchased so many houses over the years and why he opted to buy—and therefore design to his liking—his own yacht instead of chartering. “I avoid hotels, because there’s always something that jars me—usually, too much décor,” he said. “[And chartered boats are] too white, too much lighting, too much marble and crystal and mahogany. They’re like hotel suites transported out to sea. Too maximum, too yacht. I wanted to eliminate excess, so my guests would have a nautical, not a land, experience. I want them to live the boat.”
Despite the fact that Armani said at the time that Mariù (named for his mother, Maria) was his “first boat and my last,” he would later go on to build a $60 million dark green superyacht called Main.
Cliffside villas in Antigua
