Giorgio Armani wraps up Milan Fashion Week in style

Giorgio Armani was the last major Italian label to show on Sunday, bringing Milan Fashion Week to a close with a highly personal, luminous collection. The designer put shimmering fabrics and all manner of gleaming details centre-stage, keen to explore through his iridescent garments the many vibrations triggered by emotions, sensations and feelings.

Giorgio Armani’s Spring/Summer 2024 women’s ready-to-wear collection was aptly named ‘Vibes’, and was unveiled in the heart of Milan, at the small theatre in the basement of the historic palazzo at 21 via Borgonuovo where the label staged its first shows. The premises are so small that Giorgio Armani had to plan as many as three sessions in order to welcome all its guests, buyers, journalists and celebrities, notably actresses Juliette Binoche and Cate Blanchett.
 
“For once, there’s no beige,” quipped the doyen of Italian fashion, who over the years has made beige the signature hue in most of his collections. “Vibrations are synonymous with colour and movement, the same found in any structure that moves on the human body. That’s what’s inspired me,” Armani told a handful of journalists.

Starting with several rather neutral looks, combining a classic grey with golden bronze in uber-chic jacket-and-trousers sets, Giorgio Armani gradually introduced other colours, beginning with shades of marine hues (blue and green) to then plunge into a deep, luminescent black, before lighting up its looks with a dazzling array of solutions.
 
Armani favoured reflecting fabrics, like satin, shantung, silk and a kind of lurex-leather. Then, like a magician waving his wand, he made everything he touched sparkle. There were iridescent tops, and others scattered with sequins. A bolero jacket entirely covered with embroidered gemstones. Tunics and long dresses in a sheer blue fabric that gleamed like a star-studded night. Another dress was dotted with silvery tasselled bouquets, like sea anemones.

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Elsewhere, transparent sarongs and long tulle skirts encrusted with crystals were delicately layered over trousers. The latter were the collection’s signature item. Darted and slightly baggy at the hips, and mostly made in glittering satin fabrics, straight-cut trousers were worn over flat lace-up booties.
 
The collection’s idea of movement was emphasised by the use of sheer fabrics and feathery tulle, by garments constructed with undulating fabric bands and a profusion of long pearly tassels, and by the constantly changing light shining on these scintillating outfits. Towards the end of the show, the collection brightened even further, with radiant white ensembles accented with delicate pink.
 
Yet, this striking luminosity was always cleverly modulated. There is no room for bling at Giorgio Armani, instead there is the constant search for a certain kind of whispered, almost natural elegance. Armani did remark with undisguised pleasure that there currently is a strong appetite for quiet luxury. “I’ve seen plenty of normality, and a lot of experimentation on the runways. What we’re seeing today in fashion shows makes me think that people have finally understood what I’ve been saying for many years,” he stated.