 This season Giorgio Armani creates a collection of pieces empowered by their cut and construction, essentially disciplined but at the same time possessing that special equilibrium achieved through perfectly balanced contrasts – exuberant, head turning, sumptuous. These styles are rich in colour and reference, texture of fabric (satin, taffeta, silk with stiffeners clad in double chiffon to support the structure) and elegant embroidery.
It is this perfectly judged fusion, where the dress has been taken apart and reconfigured without sloppiness or fluttery detail, which brings to mind an eccentric purity derived directly from the Bauhaus. With its pared down look, the geometric formula of the skirt creates movement and emphasises the three-dimensional form of the body, the shoulders slightly prominent or, for a more defined shape, precisely cut at an oblique angle. To underline the prevalence of short compact shapes, shorts are occasionally worn under svelte tunics.
In fact everything is short and ends above the knee, even the evening dress. This staple has never before delivered such a total vision of lightness and geometric modernity, and is perfectly set off by flat shoes. Linear jackets with overstitched trim explore cool graphic design, combining sophisticated neutrals, grey, blue, green, a novel shade of iris, and low voltage red.
But it is the mutant shapes that give full expression to the pursuit of the new, including tunics like little wrap dresses, models with braces covering the bust, shorts gathered to imitate skirts, and single shoulder shirts with three layers displaying checkerboard motifs. |