Giorgio Armani seems to have secret access to the elixir of youth. Sharp-minded and in tip-top shape at 89, at the press conference before today’s Armani Privé show he looked utterly in command, still supervising the tiniest styling detail—adjusting an earring here, adding a necklace there, changing a model’s coiffure at the last minute. And scolding the staff for being noisy.
Armani launched his first Privé collection in January 2005, 19 years ago. Although he’s in no mood for celebrating milestones, he said he felt it was time for a slight change of pace. While he’s known to be rigorous in respecting the rules he’s established, this season he called the collection Haute Couture en Jeu, a French turn of phrase that can have a double meaning. He said, “on one hand, it means ‘putting couture into play,’ while on the other it can be translated into ‘Couture is having fun.’ Either way, it was time for me to be courageous, to take risks, and to probably be a little less Armani.”
Recalling that one of his first Privé looks was a severe bias-cut evening dress in black velvet with a single black plume as headdress, he reflected how far he has come; he defined today’s couture collection as “rather peculiar.” And by Armani standards it certainly was: a rather substantial parade (92 passages) of individual looks, each different from the other, “for many different women, telling different stories, with no single-minded inspiration or theme—I’m sure people will say that this isn’t Armani in the least”.
Silhouettes varied from slender to voluminous. Graceful, sleek evening numbers in delicate lace dusted in minuscule crystals sat alongside ample, billowing concoctions in vaporous tulle or silk chiffon, as in a pale-peach bustier dress whose gown was a twirling girandole of pointy-ruffled layers. The abundance of shiny surfaces, glittering embellishments, and rhinestone embroideries gave the collection a luminous shine, spotlighting Armani’s attitude of extravagance, while the chromatic palette of delicate aqueous tones infused it with an ethereal, translucent quality.
Armani said he unabashedly went for the exceptional, as women today go for out-of-the-ordinary pieces—or at least that is what his wealthy clientele do. Watching the show from the first row, Glenn Close, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Natalia Vodianova were taking notes. Oscar season is fast approaching.
