No porky pie, at 83 Armani is still top of his game
He outfitted three major nominated actresses at the Oscars (Isabelle Huppert, Viola Davies and Nicole Kidman) and pulled off two catwalk shows in four days. At 83, Giorgio Armani is still operating at a pace and altitude that eludes far younger designers. On Friday in Milan he showed Emporio Armani – his younger, less expensive (it’s all relative) line. Yesterday it was Giorgio Armani. Some of the themes were similar: in both shows his normally muted palette was scored through with sharp bursts of scarlet.
Red in all its intensities looks set to be a big colour for next autumn/ winter. At Armani it began with a drip feed – a pair of cochineal lace-up leather ankle boots here, a flash of trim there, some red statement orb earrings, a stripy scarf, a side stripe on a pair of black trousers.
But Armani is a complete-ist: not someone who approaches a concept side-on, but the kind of designer who likes to work every idea through to its logical conclusion. Embroidered red leather jackets were followed by red calf length coats and a matching tomato-red trousers and tunic top combination, the latter edged with black crocodile leather.
On other catwalks this season, red has come partnered with all kinds of unexpected shades. However, Armani teamed it mainly with black and white, a favourite combination.
Things got more intriguing when he dipped into his paint-box and slipped a petrol blue velvet blouse with pussy bow ties beneath a lime green mohair poncho, or teamed a sapphire cardigan jacket with some pleat- fronted trousers in a dense shade of bottle green. An unexpected side of Armani, the famous lover of beige, emerged: the secret colourist.
Other ideas played out to their endgame were bows, which appeared on the waists of trousers and velvet high-heeled sandals. Pork pie hats topped every look, be it ivory trench coat or a black and pink beaded gown.
His soft jackets – some so deconstructed they were more like velvet shirts with drawstring waists – were right on the money. As for the pleated, cinched-in trousers which came in lush velvets and softly glossy silk-wools – few do it better, whatever the colour.