Giorgio Armani s Resort collection drew together three distinct threads of his career: the combination of masculine and feminine elements, the architecture of haute couture, and the influence of 1930 s-style movie star glamour. He long ago reconstructed the fundamentals of men s fashion with his women s suits, as he did with a pinstriped version in navy linen here. This season, he gave the jackets a new proportion: slightly shorter with a built-out shoulder. A man s necktie was abstracted as a trompe l oeil detail. But there was nothing abstract about the couture spirit that was evident in the structure of a mesh jacket with a waistline that flared into a trumpet shape, or a cocktail dress with a huge grosgrain bow at the back.
Almost every look had some grosgrain, like the French cuffs that dressed up a long-sleeved tee, or the lining of a white satin jacket, or the waistcoat under Armani s version of Le Smoking. That kind of detailing not only added a dose of the haute Hollywood glamour that shaped young Giorgio s sensibility, but it also underscored the fact that this Resort collection wasn t the kind of free and easy garb you d see at any old casual holiday affair. The furled lapels of one black jacket looked like something from a Horst photograph. Another, in a lacquered intrecciato, would have done Dietrich justice.
