It is impossible to exaggerate his achievements and contribution to culture, to design (not only of clothing, but of home furnishings and architecture), and to fashion history during his fifty year career. 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.
So this Spring Summer '27 collection shown at Milano Moda Uomo, is the second to exist without any direct input from the master himself. Armani's partner in business and in life, Leo Dell'Orco (the two had worked together for nearly forty-five years, and became romantic partners after the death of Armani's first love, Sergio Galeotti). He is certainly carrying on the DNA of the house with gorgeous, loose-fitting and flowing trousers but this collection seemed to be about the cuts of jackets and the addition of denim...and lots of it, or at least a lot in the Armani-verse. But this is a denim that appears to be the typical woven canvas structure but which actually looks and feels more like shantung silk ... of course. In his show notes, Dell-Orco said, "I envisioned a collection that is very Armani: fluid lines, this time closer to the body, and fabrics with a lived-in appearance—vibrant, sun-scorched, and full of character. I believe that in menswear it is essential to return to researching and innovating materials."
As for the jackets, we see a newcomer to Armani... a roomier version of a classic academic's jacket, longer and looser than the traditional version (seen in Looks 5, 11, 12, 15, 17). And the collection ended with a great section of eveningwear, stripped down to its essential silhouette, clean, unencumbered ... and featuring lapel pins of the zodiac symbols for Scorpio and Cancer, Dell-Orco's and Armani's signs respectively. A touching gesture of love across the gap...
https://www.armani.com/
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