Giorgio Armani paraded his signature fall collection without music in light of the unfolding tragedy in Ukraine, a voiceover explained before the lights went up at the designer’s intimate, subterranean runway theater on Via Borgonuova.
The designer, one of the first to scuttle in-person shows amid waves of the coronavirus pandemic, certainly knows how to read the room.
The silence somehow accentuated the plushness and delicacy of his clothes, so many of them carved from velvet this season. Even the intricately beaded flapper dresses for evening, which lapped over slim pants glowing like a tin of caviar, made scarcely a tinkle.
In a Milan season rife with overcharged power dressing, Armani stuck to a soft sell, his men’s jackets snug and short with the attitude of a cardigan — when they weren’t replaced altogether by cardigans, or fleece shirt jackets with glossy utility pockets. Pegged trousers often came up short over the hefty footwear with lug or platform soles.
Women’s tailoring had that same languid ease, with small shoulders and waists, alternating between metallic brocades and light-absorbing velvets, or some combination of the two.
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The designer cited his passion for Art Deco in the show notes, and this was felt in all the gleaming black and silvery surfaces, the geometric brocades and the Jazz Age vibe of a shaggy faux-fur coat in black and white, or the shades of blue arching on a long puffer coat, also done up in velvet.
Soft and sparkly pants, occasionally tucked into high sparkly boots, seemed to be Armani’s big statement for fall, even worn under spangled dresses. But for stars likely to appear in front of a podium this awards season, there were a few winners with above-the waist appeal thanks to intricately beaded spaghetti tops.
While at times overly busy — the ubiquitous velvet even appearing as vests tightly wrapped under business suits — the collection felt in tune with these perilous times with its restrained attitude rooted in soft power.
“There is no skirt that is comparable to the modernity of pants,” Armani told a post-show press conference.