The main headlines from this Emporio Armani show were the beautiful sashed pants in the suiting section and the reprise from menswear of his R-EA recycled capsule—that is, until the press conference for Italian journalists held shortly afterward. As translated and reported by Reuters, Armani said: “I think it’s time for me to say what I think. Women keep getting raped by designers, by us. If a lady walks on the street and sees an ad with a woman with her boobs and ass in plain sight, and she wants to be like that too, that’s a way of raping her.… You can rape a woman in many ways, either by throwing her in the basement or by suggesting that she dresses in a certain way.”
You could see Armani’s point, but it was rendered null and void by his choice of metaphorical vehicle. To use in this manner, the verb “to rape” (in Italian, stuprare) is diminishing of the reality: a rhetorical ploy best avoided. It was ironic that Armani’s clumsy comment came immediately after a collection entitled Be a Poem, in which this most eminent of designers was typically articulate in the language of which he is a master: clothing.
The poetry to which Armani seemed to be alluding was of a Wildean vintage. His opening section of black suiting and evening coats featuring black foulard ties and those attractive sashed pants were deconstructed but distinctly late Victorian, an impression deepened by the quilted steampunk boots and use of Jermyn Street–favorite bottle green velvet. This preempted a double-barreled salvo in which variations of the same dress were presented in combinations of black, blue, and green. These played ruffle against fringe and featured lace-edged shorts, tiered lace dresses, foreshortened silk opera cloaks, and mosaic-paneled skirts played against sheer bead-dappled blouses.
