The San Siro Stadium in Milan was the setting where Laura Pausini starred in one of the most talked-about moments of the opening of the 2026 Winter Olympic Games. While the Italian flag rose on the mast, the singer performed a special version of the national anthem, dressed in an exclusive design by Giorgio Armani Privé and accompanied by a choir located in the snowy mountains.This gesture symbolized the convergence of music, fashion and Italian values before a global audience, in a moment that she herself described as a professional and personal privilege.
Throughout the ceremony, attention was not only on Pausini’s performance, but also on the legacy of Giorgio Armani, who recently passed away.
Recently, Pausini herself recalled her first connection with the designer: “Mr. Armani is the king of Italian fashion, absolutely, and always will be. When I was 18, he wanted to meet me and told me that I should focus everything on my face, advice not only from a great stylist but from a person who, before the dress, put the human being with his features in the center and enhanced them as only he knows how to do,” commented the artist.
The bond between the two continued for decades, consolidating over time. “I have never stopped following his advice, I feel honored that he immediately expressed the desire to dress me and he has always been by my side, in all the most important moments of my career,” said Pausini.She highlighted the emotional and symbolic load of this alliance during the Games: “Representing Italy at the opening ceremony of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games, with a dress designed by Giorgio Armani, is a privilege that fills me with pride and joy. I am grateful to be able to pay tribute once again to an absolute Master, whose greatness continues to inspire the world,” the singer concluded about the black dress.
The ceremony also included the participation of Mariah Carey, who performed the classic “Nel blu dipinto di blu” in Italian before Pausini’s central moment.However, the event acquired its distinctive stamp when the Italian artist took the national anthem to a new dimension.His version, more contained and supported by voices from the mountains, “was not a shouted anthem, but a shared anthem,” according to the chronicle of the event, visually reinforced by the choir with white capes decorated in tricolor, designed by Massimo Cantini Parrini.
