Giorgio Armani presented his first-ever collection one year before the 21st edition of the Summer Olympics in Montreal, back in 1976. This evening, under his Emporio line, Armani presented a collection that augured the 33rd edition of the Games in Paris next year. A dozen Italian Olympic athletes, half of them Paralympians, traversed the Teatro Armani runway at the close to reveal a capsule version of the national kit to be worn next July and August. The applause, even if from a partisan crowd, was thunderous.
The red, white, and green those athletes waved so proudly provided the brightest flashes of color in a show dominated by tonal shades and a deep and inky black. The collection’s motif was a ginkgo leaf, and many of the pieces were inspired by the ecosystem of traditional Asian dress. The leaf was embroidered as cutouts into one-and-a-half-breasted peak lapel suits teamed with wide flowing trousers, or across latticed, trellis-effect tops. It flourished in matte jacquard across interesting shirt/biker hybrids, and gleamed on soft-shouldered and loose golden tunic shirts.
A section of tonal knit hoodies over draped drawstring pants in beige prefaced a technical segment featuring sheer greige separates in silky but robust materials worn over lug-toe sneakers. Harnesses held hats worn high on the back. The ginkgo returned on hoodies to signal a transition back to Emporio proper and a closing series of dedicated evening looks often built around the horseshoe waistcoat. The fluid black or white silhouettes shifted and flowed between Asian and European originating source codes: faster, higher, stronger—together.
