BEAUTY: Clothing--Emporio Armani

Giorgio Armani was in hospital recently and was not able to attend this SS '26 show at Milano Moda Uomo--the first time ever he has missed a show. He is nearly 91 after all, but reports are that he is doing just fine.

Regular readers know by now that an Emporio Armani or Armani show means a cut-and-paste moment from all my past posts about Giorgio. So yes, here we are again.

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.

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? The 1940s and 50s? Yes to all of it.

But this SS '26 collection does have a strong theme and was elevated even beyond the expected spectacular-ness in the form of references to North and Central Africa as well as Central Asia. Called "Origins," the garments, all in swoon-worthy desert colors, ranged from the usual Armani-cut supple suits in insanely luxe materials to loose billowy trousers, tunics, long overshirts and jackets in metallic-finish silks, generous smocks, kurtas, rattan hats, bejeweled skull caps, and a jacket made out of feathers (look #35)! I love the accessorizing--all the neckwear is gloriously beautiful and the twisted rows of hair with cuffs was a lovely touch. And the models walked a runway that was lined with sun-baked clay bricks from Morocco.

It's a bold move in this day of cries of "cultural appropriation" to present a collection based on inspiration from a source not native to oneself, but I like how the show notes put it (read them at the bottom): "a genuine interest in other cultures and a passion for different ways of expressing oneself through the everyday act of dressing." Yes, I agree.

https://www.armani.com/

BEAUTY: Clothing--Emporio Armani

Regular readers know by now that an Emporio Armani or Armani show means a cut-and-paste moment from all my past posts about Giorgio (and yes, you will probably see this again in a few days after the Armani collection shows on Monday):

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.

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? The 1940s and 50s? Yes to all of it.

So for this warm, shimmering Fall-Winter '25-'26 collection at Milano Moda Uomo, Emporio Armani showed, as usual, insanely luxe fabrics but in some amazing colors: champagne, antiqued silver, patinated copper, satin brass, bronze. The show opened with a selection of winterwear and ski clothing, which is usually an interlude in the middle of the collection. Toward the end are some stunning garments featuring jacquards and velvets with beautifully rendered Asian motifs and what looks to be some heavy, complicated, jeweled embroidery (the jackets in looks 57 and 58 below). It was as if Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald took a trip to China in 1921. Indeed, the final look was a sort of Goth couple with the air of the 1920s or 1930s about them, dressed for a chic night out but with details from someplace like Nepal or Tibet...

https://www.armani.com/

BEAUTY: Clothing--Emporio Armani

Regular readers know by now that an Emporio Armani or Armani show means a cut-and-paste moment from all my past posts about Giorgio (and yes, you will probably see this again in a few days after the Armani collection shows on Monday):

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.

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? The 1940s and 50s? Yes to all of it.

So for this soft, lyrical Spring Summer '25 collection at Milano Moda Uomo, Emporio Armani showed a collection that was clearly inspired by the south of France. As an ode to the area, a gigantic projection of the wild horses who live in the Camargue region encompassed the show space while models in gorgeous, flowing summer clothing with boots and belts referencing equestrian style leisurely walked the runway with straw hats à la Van Gogh in St. Remy. There was also that fantastic sense of history in silhouettes and cuts...wide trousers, shawl collars, even an 18th century-influenced waistcoat! And the footwear in this collection is swoon-worthy...take a look at the video below. But what clinched the south of France deal was the sudden introduction at the end of the show of several looks with sunflowers and in lavender. I have visited the Sault and Valensole plateaus several times and can attest to the fact that one sees sunflower fields alternating with lavender fields for miles and miles. At the very end of the show, a peek at the womenswear collection came out accompanied by hunky models in leather shorts carrying baskets heaped with dried lavender. Oh, heaven...

https://www.armani.com/