Giorgio Armani has said his powerhouse label will remain independently owned all the time he's alive.

The 81-year-old fashion has shut down rumours he'll give up control of his Italian business and admitted it'll always be privately control until the day he's no longer around.

Speaking to the Business of Fashion yesterday (29.09.15) at his spring/summer 2016 show in Milan, Italy, he said: ''While I am alive, there will be independence. Soon after, perhaps I will have prepared the ground for a type of independence that is more measured, more controlled.''

The fashionista, who founded his company 40 years ago, revealed earlier this year he's still undecided on what will happen to the iconic label once he's passed away.

He said at the time: ''Being able to choose the light that you like in an office as much as designing an unruly or highly elegant collection, this is independence. But you need means to maintain independence.''

Meanwhile, the designer has just released his autobiography entitled 'Giorgio Armani,' which will feature unpublished images and text written by the icon himself.

He told WWD of his book: ''I tried to pick those images that better represent my life and my professional path, and I also wanted to include unpublished images. I thought of the book as a long sequence of pictures, almost like in a movie, interrupted by notes written in the first person: a constant stream mixing public and private, life and work.''