PARIS, Jan 23, 2006/ FW/ --- On a cold winter day in Paris, Giorgio Armani heat up the haute couture season with suits, dresses and gowns that are simply to die for.

True, all of them are red carpet worthy, but who said that you have to be a Hollywood star to wear them? Especially the women’s pantsuit sets that show the Italian designer’s tailoring skills with a capital T, they can go from day to night easily.

Being a couturier actually suits Armani very well. He might be the ‘new kid on the block’ in a manner of speaking among the big houses showing in Paris, but no one can deny that his presence in the haute couture calendar added more fans to the dwindling numbers.

As history said, during the height of haute couture, in the 1950s and 1960s, there were 15,000 couture clients. That number had dwindled to approximately 200- 300 today.

Though the fashion houses never officially give out the number of clients for haute couture, it will be safe to assume that Giorgio Armani brought in a fair number of clients, since he is also slated to show this collection in Hong Kong this coming March.

Because, truly, how can a woman not covet those Armani couture gowns. The neon pink tube top with horizontal pleats and graphical prints or the midnight blue ensemble encrusted with semi-precious stones on the bodice flaring beautifully at the hips to handkerchief folds are simply irresistible.

Wearable and outright stunning, the Giorgio Armani Prive collection jump-started the haute couture season going from 0 to 120mph in 60 seconds.