Whether applied to history, evolution, geography, or fashion, the idea that the path of change is shaped like a spring—an endlessly circling loop that shifts a little every revolution back and forth—holds true. Sometimes, very rarely, that spring kinks in a great leap forward. Within the micro-universe of fashion, Giorgio Armani sparked a leap worthy of the cover of Time magazine (back when that was a big deal), when the utterly self-assured aesthetic he’s had since childhood sparked a widening and softening of tailoring in the early 1980s, fashion eons ago.
Today’s Giorgio Armani collection showed that 35 years later, this now-82-year-old retains a progressively flexible capacity to intuit, process, and react to the endless circling and shift. In a nearly 100-look offering, the Armani antenna commenced by broadcasting several scene-setting soft gray suits—one double-breasted, one single—cut with longish jackets and wide carrot pants. What he did then made now. Then a double jacketing—red velvet worn over gray wool—signaled the riot of layering ahead. “Sleeve scarves,” two disembodied tubes connected by a membrane of differently textured knit, were used in recurring salvos as top layers (although they would be easier to wear under a coat). Armani proposed the hoodie as waistcoat under a soft-shoulder jacket, partially unzipped from both sides, with contrasting shirts underneath. He pitched at a feminine, four-button jacket shape with an opening that reached only inches below the throat, worn above a soft pink velour shirt. The few women’s looks featured consistent pops of color and contrast—loving the dog jacquard jacket—but the men’s rarely ventured beyond inky greens, browns, grays, and blues. Under the Teatro Armani’s eye-altering lights, this made it tricky to fully appreciate how the marled wools, woven tonal check wool blends, velveteens, crackled and crispy treatments, velours, and mohair conspired to deliver a cacophony of complementary textures. Also impossible to see from the front was the relaxed silhouettes underpinned by his easy pant shapes and fitted but free shoulder lines. Outerwear was dark and imposing and, with the exception of the furs, aggressively unadorned.
Hip-hop artist Future, who was born a year after that Time cover was published, sat in the audience after meeting Mr. Armani at a GQ Style shoot last year. What was his reading? “I feel it’s way ahead of the curve. It shows he’s always ahead of everyone. Especially the furs around the neck. And the sleeve wraparound was crazy: I could see me wearing that on a daily.” Armani’s way is never entirely to be set in his. Perhaps this is why he has outlasted so many less creatively limber designers to be a giant of the past who stays relevant to the present and appeals to the future.
