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Milan Men's: Both Hits & Misses at Armani
By Godfrey Deeny
Photos by Gruber-FWD
MILAN, Jan 18, 2003 /FWD/ --- Does the great Giorgio Armani think he's not getting enough respect? It certainly seems that way from this season's men's collection's program notes, where he took some shots at rival designers, even if they meant nothing to his front row of European soccer stars.
"Some designers might dream of glaciers in the polar regions and of travels in Tibet [a reference to Roberto Cavalli], others might nostalgically recall the sixties [Prada] and the espresso-fueled buzz of London's Carnaby street [Burberry], and there are certainly those who are into hard rock [Versace and Dsquared2] and have a taste for the dark side [Gucci]," Armani wrote.
Instead, he promises his presentation will be a "totally modern show," for after all "there is real revolutionary DNA in this house."
The collections - Giorgio Armani and Emporio alternated on the illuminated catwalk in his giant via Bergognone space - were defiantly new, though it was a thoroughly hit-and-miss affair, badly in need of editing.
Opening to tinkling piano notes, Giorgio sent out a slew of beautiful velour shirts, cool iridescent tops and probably the best collection of knits Milan has seen. His use of jacquard weaves, marvelous sense of non-colors and display of aged leathers was impressive. A trio of knit jackets was also impeccable, as were lightly padded velvet frock coats. There will be plenty to put on the shelves of his ever-expanding retail empire this fall.
But did we really need to see two pairs of pinstripe jumpsuits on men at the beginning and end of the show? And we lost count at 30 of the long list of cargo pants, cut so large each leg could have accommodated two of Hedi Slimane's models.
His football greats, including Portugal's Luis Figo, Italy's Alex Del Piero, Christian Vieri and Fabio Cannavaro and the Ukraine's Andrej Shevchenko (himself Armani's partner in a boutique in Kiev), clearly loved the show. The sporting talent is probably worth $250 million on today's market, but as fashionistas they seemed to need help. How else to explain their burst of clapping when two hackneyed heavy-seamed sheepskin coats appeared, while a super caveman shearling a few seconds left them in stony silence.
Practically every major designer today uses a stylist to hone his or her collection into a more coherent display. Armani refuses to do so, and this rambling display, albeit containing some very fine clothes, could certainly have used an editor's counsel. That was the biggest message of this show -- and the fact that the most influential designer of past two decades was even paying attention to his rivals. Giorgio, lighten up -- it's a New Year, and nearly everyone is hurting more than you.
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