ARMANI’S menswear and womenswear has always been intertwined by an enduring elegance that is genderless for the most part. Its relaxed tailoring and informal plays on the lounge suit for both men and women leading the way in semi-unisex clothing that can be appreciated by all long before it ever became a niche and subsequently mainstream trend. Armani’s menswear collection for AW17 explored this by sending men and women, but mostly men, onto a shiny vinyl catwalk in complimentary mixture of plum tones of midnight blue and onyx with flashes of slate blue and coral.
Used marvellously these rich colours flowed from baggy, unstructured trousers in mismatched suits covered by fuzzy outerwear. Matching scarves with an aesthetically pleasing triangular tessellation print were fastened around the upper body, appearing like torn rags over the luxe velvet jacket and slack combos. While rippling, wrinkled and wild textures were layered on top of one another the similarity of the dark sea-bed hues muted the entire collection in a way that calmed down some of the collections more experimental styles.
To this end nothing appeared jarring and the pieces were perfectly tied together in a sophisticated Armani package. The lavish Eskimo-esque outerwear that came close to the finale was certainly out there in an effort to show Armani can still do extreme trends, for extreme climates only perhaps, but still felt rightly reined in by a designer who is the arbiter of not-trying-too-hard to be contemporary.
by Livia Feltham
Images courtesy of Giorgio Armani