The shiny pink invitation for Giorgio Armani’s fall Privé couture present was no pink herring, foreshadowing a set that took most of its cues from roses — and in addition lacquer packing containers from the Far East.
The 2 motifs arrived regularly, as fashions in silky, tapered trousers tread a checkerboard runway, first in slim brocade jackets and densely beaded shirts and tunics.
If quiet luxurious has been the undercurrent of this couture season, reflecting a extra downbeat temper taking maintain on this planet, then Armani didn’t get the memo, preferring lustrous materials, dense decorations and many crystals and beadwork.
His sparkly trousers are positive to be successful, providing a straightforward method to gown up for night. Some got here veiled in a second pair of sparkly pants, the hems picked out in small crystals. Stovepipe pants in metallic brocades strode in as a extra subdued possibility.
The season has been gentle on new tailoring concepts, and so Armani’s swallowtail coats, with their rounded, barely built-up sleeve heads, caught the attention. Principally, he most popular pure shoulders, making a pleasingly slim silhouette.
The roses arrived slowly at first, as a cloth flourish punctuating a tailor-made ensemble, or a substitute for a steel buckle or jewel on a night shoe.
Finally, the pink flower grew to become a dominant motif, bringing to thoughts a current Chanel assortment hinged closely on the camellia.
After all, Armani cultivated the flower theme his manner, utilizing rose blooms as 3D gildings clustered on shoulders, or scattered on flaring night robes.
A preponderance of black and gold, and a few pagoda embroideries, made one consider lacquered packing containers. The press notes, distributed after the present, described “a journey from west to east by means of elongated silhouettes,” with “hints of different worlds and cultures.”
Whereas the present generally felt like a cake with an excessive amount of ornamental frosting, or an overgrown rose backyard, there have been no less than a couple of dozen long-stemmed beauties.
