Searching for a sense of serenity he thinks has gone missing in the world—he’s not wrong!—Giorgio Armani landed on the pearl, a symbol of wisdom and purity across cultures, as his press notes pointed out.
At the start of the show, the pearl reference translated as lustrous suiting, cut with the soft sharpness that is Armani’s stock in trade. Next, he transitioned to black tailoring, often in velvet, with pearl buttons and other accents that caught that light. The suits were mostly paired with flats, as were the many of the slim-line evening dresses in the parade that followed. They gave the timeless shapes a modern attitude; life is challenging enough, why complicate it further with impossible stilettos?
Armani employed many kinds of embellishments and embroideries, not just pearls, but he stuck to a palette of black and white and lustrous metallics. One of the stars of the show was the very simplest: a strapless dress whose stand-away square bodice was entirely encrusted in crystals and beads, bias cut velvet falling from the waist to the floor.
In its emphasis on a single long, narrow silhouette, it was a volte face from last season’s more exuberant turn. But it was an entirely welcome one—Armani at his Armani-est, serving up the soigné evening elegance that has made him a Hollywood favorite for as many decades as he’s been in business.
Here and there the jewelry and the headwear distracted from the overall look, and it was a wee bit long at 89 exits, 90 if you count his bow, with two models in mesh pearl dresses on either side of him. Though he’s not one for celebrating such milestones, that number seemed intentional. Armani is on the precipice of 90—his birthday is July 11—but he still knows how to cut a ravishing dress, and to top it off: a black velvet double-breasted ankle-length coat with pearls and crystals dotting it like constellations in the night sky.
