“I am me. The others are the others,” said Giorgio Armani with a shrug after his first show of two this morning. “When I create my collections, I think of women I meet everywhere, and not for intellectual or sexual stimulation. Instead that’s what I think about their faces. We can accept everything today, but that’s not me: I see a joker walking down Via Monte Napoleone in her underpants. That’s when I hate the term fashion and would like to see it abolished.”
If this makes Milan’s maestro of maturity sound inherently conservative, you haven’t been paying attention: Mr. Armani’s success remains rooted in the radical disruption with which he reshaped fashion nearly fifty years ago. This closing collection of Milan Fashion Week – Armani told journalists that he had written to the Camera della Moda in Milan to extend the week, and steps are being taken – embodied his taste that shaped the industry. Another radical move that was much appreciated today was that he started his show just 15 minutes after the advertised time (turning the lights backstage on and off again to emphasize that he was ready to go) and presented again in his central , comfortable and unpretentious Via. Borgonuovo space.
Gina di Bernardo, who starred in many of Aldo Fallai’s defining campaigns for the ’80s designer, opened the show in a technical paneled grayscale overcoat and pleated silvery separations between a fedora and flats embellished with illustrations of winter flowers, after which this collection was given a name. Loose velvet combat wear and softly tailored herringbone motifs were among the arsenal of trousers worn over softly embellished and oversized outerwear (Look 12’s navy field jacket was an ideal example). Silk satin breeches in black or navy blue were worn over loose-belted jackets: some of these were accented with collar and placket details based on Asian clothing, an enduring Armani theme.
Evening wear included sheer silhouette dresses in black adorned with dragonfly embellishments. These, Armani admitted, could be suitable choices for those in need of a red carpet dress. Before posing for a group photo with the brave corps of Italian fashion correspondents who have followed him for so long (and who are so often foolishly ignored by designers who end up in this city), Armani had told The guard: “I don’t think I will ever stop working, because dressing people is the great passion of my life.”
