Tonight’s highly seductive Emporio Armani show, all 111 looks of it, was a deeply chic odyssey across multiple codes, moods, and territories. Spanning bohemianism to Buffalo and Italy to China, it was a decadently (but never dissolutely) creative exercise. It riffed on the house’s long-established proportions while introducing some new ones too. And its curation of color, shine, and texture was outstanding on the eye.
It opened with a skiwear section that would have made a decent show in itself. This mixed nomadically romantic proportions with what looked like garment dyed down-filled patchworks of purples, mustard, magenta and brown. Although technical wear, it looked to have an organic touch.
We moved into metallic finished velvet suiting razored with pinstripes, form fitting lurex spliced rib knits, wide-panted gray wool three-piece suiting teamed with horsehair leopard print loafers, and multiple cloaks. A lurex leopard twin set was sensual grunge. Ties were half unwound, relaxed into skinny, silky scarves. A cheetah print trench and printed faux fur leopard print blouson were blatantly sexy outerwear pieces. An aubergine-toned overcoat with one cracked leather collar panel whose full skirt was waisted with a strip of leather cord was more subtly beguiling. Both in brown and black, the weathered and paneled leather outerwear were remarkable realizations of what looked like incredible vintage finds. There was a great section of oversized and weighty-looking tailored jackets in richly developed fabrics and material, especially an off-yellow jacket patterned with a velvet mishmash of differently sized and distressed banks of herringbone chevron.
The hats were another headline: brimless baseball caps, brimless felt fedoras, cheetah print and black leather berets, skullcaps and more. Bags included double-sectioned half-sized briefcases with side pockets in complementary fabrics and finishes. Towards the end we saw a series of informal jackets, some Western, others Eastern, in what looked like vintage chinoiserie upholstery jacquard. There was a near-closing duo of black velvet evening looks embellished with moonlight glints of stone and metal. At the end a couple, both Emporio-goth-boho, took a severe stroll around the Teatro, as if on their way home. Then, out came the designer: I’d say this Giorgio Armani guy has potential.
