A nice pair of pleated, mannishly cut cropped trousers with an easy fit that went with just about everything, were the dominant silhouette for Giorgio Armani’s fall Emporio collection. Classic Armani tailoring, mostly in black or white, with swingy A-line jackets, cropped boxy blazers and baseball jacket hybrids, all cut with soft shoulders, was the highlight of the lineup, though it fell outside the show’s larger theme.
Titled “New Pop,” the collection used basic geometric shapes — squares, circles and triangles — in bright cobalt, yellow, pink and green to decorate traditional Armani silhouettes. He billed it as “The current revolution: classic style and digital designs.” With a major nod to the Memphis Group, this version of pop was new about 35 years ago, but the digital effects offered moments of retro charm, such as a sportily sexy V-neck zip-and matching short skirt aglow with fluorescent geometrics. Taken outside the runway context, some of the patterned pieces will find life with current colorful Pop-y streetwear trends, such as two fuzzy striped sweaters, one black-and-pink; one black-and-white, with a circle, triangle and U-shape arranged in a smiley face.