Back in 2013, Armani was reporting growth in China, Hong Kong and Japan as other luxury brands complained of stagnation. He’s been expanding his presence there for a while, opening hundreds of new stores and carefully tailoring his offer to a new clientele. So it’s no surprise that, like so many other designer this season, Mr Armani was looking to give a shout out, a supporting nod, to this part of his market.
He talked of ‘fusion’ - a buzzword in the globalisation of fashion. When trying to cater to such a broad range of shoppers, all living in different climates with different heritages, collections can start to feel like a clash of opposing ideas and directions, packaged up together for the sake of a fashion show. Fusion can be tricky. But Armani put his signatures first, and that’s why this worked. That same chilly palette of grey, blues and ‘mud’ - to quote directly from the show notes - was present. As was the clean, considered minimalism that we’ve come to expect. Fusion came in the subtle nods to other cultures - the manadarin collars, the embroidery snaking over a prince of wales fabric, the paisley. You could read into each look, and ponder the inspirations or the cultural touchstones that had informed the pieces, but the tribute to the Orient was never clichéd or hackneyed. One of the womenswear looks that featured in the collection could almost have been an ode to the pop-friendly school girl style of some young Japanese women thanks to those tailored shorts, crossed braces and flats. Harajuku the Armani way? Only the music let this subtle, intelligent fusion down - an Italian crooner, clashed with upbeat Asian pop - it reminded us how easily fashion can clash cultures awkwardly, and how lucky we are that the Armani design team had more skill at mixing than the DJ.
