GIORGIO ARMANI : Make that our Mani .
From Fashion Wire Daily .
By Godfrey Deeny
Maybe we should call the latest Giorgio Armani men’s collection Our Mani – mani being Italian for hands, like the pair that graced the program of his latest show.
The collection, staged Thursday afternoon in his custom-made, Tadao Ando designed headquarters in south Milan was all about Armani’s impressive ability to cut, shape and invent new jacket shapes. The results were all the more impressive given that Armani celebrated 70 last year, yet seems to have more ideas about how to re-invent the jacket than any designer or tailor in Italy.
In a sense, Giorgio has been doing this for years – he was the first designer to put men into the quintessential woman’s fabric, crepe, and the first to completely de-construct the jacket by throwing away interior shoulder pads.
For spring-summer 2006, Armani revamped this garment, shortening it by several inches, trimming the hips to elongate the silhouette and using saddle shoulders and peak lapels to lighten the line. Using lots of single buttons the jackets had pure lines and just that right amount of newness. They pretty well all looked great on the models and you could see them working flatteringly on lesser mortals.
With fashion seasons moving along so quickly and new talents coming out of nowhere in an instant, it is often hard to remember what makes for really good fashion moments: solid and spectacular design. Here, is where grande Giorgio comes into play this season because he knows to do just that. With this collection he brought to life the best memories we have about Armani men’s wear.
Armani also has an uncanny ability to attract the right sort of people into his design team. Whoever suggested the materials for this show, has a great eye: seersucker dyed in burgundy, micro weave Prince of Wales checks or zigzag plays. Even the mono-color was spot on; there was a battleship gray metallic linen suit that you knew would look great on thousands of guys, and even the odd relative.
Paired with fabric shoes, collar shirts and second-skin leather dusters, the collection was excellent – making up for a rather predictable casting and tired soundtrack of old standards.
But give the sheer quality of the clothes, one had no other choice at show’s end than to raise one’s hands, like those on the program, high in applause.
