Giorgio Armani held two haute couture shows at the Petit Palais today. This writer attended the first and the celebrities attended the second. The week has been light on A-listers, the omnipresent Céline Dion notwithstanding, so how disappointing to learn that Nicole Kidman, her IRL husband, her Big Little Lies husband, and Zendaya, to boot, were front row at show two.
Armani has been movie crazy since his youth, and his Privé collection has long been designed with an eye to the red carpet. It’s engaging to watch it march past, wondering who might choose the austere black zip-front coatdress embroidered with crystals, and who would prefer a tiered tulle confection in icy shades of pink, mint, and baby blue. The extensive collection was more or less evenly divided into two sections: black looks opened and closed the show, and in between Armani inserted an array of sweet pastels.
In both sections the tailoring template followed this general rule: Structured but imaginatively tailored jackets topped trousers with a pajama-like ease; in most cases the pants were veiled with a net, which increased the sense of flou or movement, especially when that net was dusted with sparkle. On one striking ensemble, the jacket’s grid of bead clusters was echoed by the polka-dot print of the veiled pants. (The veiling concept worked less successfully on tops.)
Turning back to the red carpet, there were two likely contenders that showcase the range of the Privé evening offering. The first was a strapless powder pink silk satin dress embroidered with pearls and crystals in a lozenge motif swathed in lamé tulle. It dipped alluringly low in back but retained a regal aura. The second was a black tulle full-skirted gown with a matching cape. Both gown and cape were ebullient with lamé polka dots.
