Isabelle Huppert, a Best Actress nominee for the Paul Verhoeven film Elle, wore a pale pinkish white crystal-embroidered dress of weightless, unstructured organza from Armani Privé to last night’s Oscars ceremony. The French star made more than one best dressed list, Vogue.com’s included.
Around 12 hours later, Giorgio Armani was on another stage, that of his Teatro Armani; his show caps off Milan Fashion Week. In a Fall season in which designers are taking a renewed interest in the suit, he found ways to refresh the tailoring that forms the backbone of his sprawling empire via color, texture, and silhouette. His exploration with shape held the most surprise. In all the years he has been putting his stamp on the suit, we can’t remember a plissé skirt–tapered pant hybrid (with the skirt in front, the pants in back) come down his runway, but here he made the concept a key element of his show. It could catch on. Color-wise, he exhibited continued interest in the brights he showed at Emporio Armani last week, segueing from a zesty red to equally vivid shades of green and blue. They stood out on the catwalk, but in real life, it will be the shades of gray that his customers respond to. The abundance of soft and hand-spun fabrics such as velvet and fuzzy mohair suggests that Armani, like many others this season, is prioritizing comfort.
The pants story continued into evening, with the designer pairing high-waisted silk trousers and small embroidered tops in an of-the-moment fashion. The lights went down and a single model emerged, wearing an allover embroidered dress that managed to look as light and effortless as a T-shirt. In that sense, it was not unlike Huppert’s red carpet stunner.
