Originally posted by Fashion Wire Daily@ October 15, 2003 - London
The Italian Heads to London: Latest Installation in Armani's Big Exhib
By Godfrey Deeny
Almost as much champagne flowed at Giorgio Armani's party in London Tuesday night to celebrate the opening of his retrospective in the Royal Academy of Art, as water passed under Tower Bridge, which the elegant guests admired throughout the bash.
Staged in Sir Norman Foster's hyper-modern More London Building on the Thames, with giant picture windows of London's most beautiful bridge, the event drew a pack of Armani regulars -- Richard Gere, Lauren Hutton, Robert De Niro, Lady Helen Taylor, Eric Clapton and Bob Wilson, who designed the retrospective exhibit.
"I love London. It's always been a very important city for Armani," the designer, referring to himself in the third person, told FWD. "Milan is really a small town by comparison. But London is the world's great city. Paris is very beautiful, but compared to London, almost a suburb."
Guests dined on risotto, pasta, Italian red or Perrier Jouet, before singer Ms. Dynamite did a live performance of her recent hits.
Just around the corner, scores of onlookers gaped at magician David Blaine as he hung in his glass box above the river, nearing the end of his 44-day London fast. "I find it a little sad, don't you? Imagine hanging around half-dressed with everyone looking at you. Fairly squalid," Armani said.
"Armani opened up the door to millions of women to fashion and elegance. That's what this exhibition is all about," said Manolo Blahnik, as he toured the exhibition of some 480 outfits. The show is the fourth stage in a world tour that began at the Guggenheim in New York and has included stops in Bilbao and Berlin.
Said Zandra Rhodes: "Armani is a great tailor, we always knew that, but this exhibition shows how well he uses fantasy and color."
The exhibition is grouped into several sections, emphasizing Armani's minimalism, use of non-colors like mud, cement and lichen, and underlining his exotic use of multi-cultural ideas and brilliant embroidery. Several rooms featured sitar and Indian music.
"The circular stairs in New York made the exhibition rather like a Chinese lantern, while in Berlin it snaked around the New Museum like a serpent. Here in London, I've hung it like curtains which has made it a little more mysterious," Wilson told FWD.
Also touring the event were Bryan Adams, former cabinet minister Peter Mandelson, TV presenter Jeremy Paxman, artists Damien Hirst and Lucien Freud and Savile Row designer Ozwald Boateng.
Actors Sam Neil, Saffron Burrows, Rosamund Pike and Minnie Driver, who was engrossed in conversation with Boris Becker, also toured the show.
"I wear lots of designers, though, of course, tonight Armani. I think he has the sense of modern Italian style, really good quality and great cut that makes him more special than anyone else," Becker said.
Boom Boom was not the only sports star on hand. Also in attendance were soccer greats Gianluca Vialli, Brazilian World Cup winner Gilberto Silva, and English internationals Sol Campbell and Ashley Cole.
"I love wearing Armani, even if only jeans tonight. You know when you buy Armani, you always get that extra bit of class. He's the greatest," beamed Cole.
