I love Giorgio Armani: I say it every time I blog about his work. Every season for his own eponymous label or for his Emporio Armani line (the more causal and sportier version of Armani), I swoon at what his house creates and sends down the runway. I respond most to designers, designs, and shows that have a strong inspiration and concept, and a near-performance art presentation. But Armani does not need concepts. He has been creating his own sense of easy luxury for nearly half a century now, and it's still fresh and relevant today.
It's hard to exaggerate the contribution of Giorgio Armani to fashion history. Along with names who changed silhouettes and shapes and ushered in new cuts and styles and materials, Armani takes his place in the pantheon. He deconstructed the men's suit in the 80s, turning it into something soft and sensual, something sexy and flowing, without altering the basic concept of what it was. He removed layers of felting inside suits, making them relaxed and able to behave like thin silk. Just take a look at the iconic clothing from the film "American Gigolo" and you will see what I mean. It was soft and casual with a sense of effortless power. This revolution rippled out into the industry and we see its waves even now: designers still grapple with ways to make suiting less stiff, to make clothing more luxe without being precious, and to make pieces with more innate ease without being sloppy. In short, to make clothes more Armani. But no one does Armani like Armani. Clean lined and impeccably tailored, Armani's sensibility is about luxe fabrics and the way a garment hangs and drapes on the body (of both men and women).
But there is something else that I really respond to in each Armani collection and that is a vague sense, a shadow, an echo of historical fashion. The way a jacket or coat is cut or its stance, the inclusion of waistcoats, belted outerwear, loose cut and high waisted trousers...it all reminds me of...what, the 1920s and 30s? The 1880s and 1890s? The 1940s and 50s? Yes to all of it.
At Milano Moda Uomo yesterday, Armani presented a Spring-Summer '25 collection of absolute ease in supremely luxe fabrics. Set against a backdrop of the shadows of palm fronds gently waving in a breeze, the Armani men strolled, relaxed, down the runway showing off perfect summer pieces that look simple but which actually take incredible skill to create. Armani has been doing this for fifty years now, and I marvel at the fact that he has managed to stay relevant and creative over such a long span. Oh, and he turns ninety...90 YEARS OLD in July. Buon compleanno, Sig. Armani!
https://www.armani.com/
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