Emporio Armani in dialogue with Japan

By

Godfrey Deeny

Published
Jun 17, 2017

Go east young man was the message at Emporio Armani, a show entitled 'A Dialogue with Japan of an other era'. The ghosts of Akira Kurosawa and Kenji Mizoguchi wafted through an excellent collection, as Giorgio Armani riffed on Japanese motifs, proportions, colors and detailing.

 

Nothing summed up the mood better than a middle section when a half dozen gents appeared in six dazzling gold tuxedos, souvenir jackets and vintage style Sukajan bombers – many in a chrysanthemum print.
 
Add in kimono bombers, some great dandy salary man silk suits finished with ceremonial aprons, coolest of cool Hanten jackets with loops and toggles, paired with voluminous cargo pants.

Smart styling too – from the fighter pilot double headbands to a series of Yakuza party animal checkered brogues.
 
On top of that, a suitably mock-irate martial arts champ executed a big melodramatic kick at the head of the runway, much to the delight of the photographers and audience.
 

“I have had a love affair with Japan ever since I went there 35 years ago; with Karl Lagerfeld. I loved the aesthetic; and the fact that people were so tremendously well mannered,” smiled Armani, as he imitated the Japanese by taking a deep ceremonial bow.
 
The pop star Shawn Mendes was the final look in the show, the better to show off the new Emporio Armani Connected smartwatch. Attired in a silk bomber jacket done up in the same black and red floral drawing on the show invitation.
 
“I was worried that it might all be too costume-like. But in the end I think we got it right,” added the designer, after posing for photos with Shawn. The young generation suitably humble before the octogenarian master.