Here come the grooms! The stately parade of male couples in the Emporio Armani show today suggested a high-fashion endorsement of civil partnerships. Indeed, union was the collection's foundation, most obviously in a marriage of tailoring and athletics that came through in the essential physicality of the presentation. It was eye-assaultingly obvious in the tops with bands of sheer fabric that seemed bizarrely placed to highlight the nipples jutting from the models' bulging pecs. It was rather more pleasingly expressed in papery leathers that defined the torso, or mesh T-shirts, Spring 2013's favorite menswear fancy, or the subtle body-consciousness of shirts whose diagonal closing was left to hang open, exposing more chest. Woven double-breasted jackets topped tennis shorts, a sophisticated premise that was matched by the tortoiseshell finish of tech-soled shoes. Though maybe that was too sophisticated for their high-performance promise.
Given that the show was titled "Impeccable" and clearly designed to highlight the impeccability of men in clothes, Armani undermined himself somewhat with his finale. Under the cover of a darkness illuminated by the Olympic rings, the catwalk was quickly crowded with impeccably _un_dressed young model Olympians. Who needs clothes with bodies this good?
