If the Emporio show s stated theme of film noir espionage sounded like it would gel perfectly with Giorgio Armani s own taste for forties films—and if such a theme also sounded well in step with Fall 2011 s affection for that decade—the reality of the presentation was surprisingly different. Yes, they were all dressed in black, but the femmes in the show weren t particularly fatales. They wore Confederacy caps instead of fedoras, for Pete s sake. And if there was an occasional pencil skirt or broad-shouldered topcoat to provoke a vision of film noir s finest, the collection offered, for the most part, a numbingly comprehensive range of variations on pants, skirts, jackets, coats, and, for variety, jumpsuits. The guiding principle seemed to be a play with silhouette. The legs were, for instance, defined by spatslike appurtenances, a saddlebaglike belt created a pannier effect on the hips, shoulders were ruffled, and there were armlets that looked like leg-of-mutton sleeves. In a collection this big it wasn t hard to pluck out the pieces that fulfilled Armani s usual tenet of functional urban chic, and most of them were, unsurprisingly, jackets. A fringed blanket wrap made a more stylish accessory than the incongruous little terrier that nestled in one model s arms.
