Armani is another line that I think is trying really hard to excite a younger customer — which they’ve done before; Blake Lively wore a lot of it for a while, for example. It’s not that people avoid it, but much like Chanel, it doesn’t have the viral cool cred that others do, and might be trying too hard to find it. This show, to me, really feels like a sweeping attempt to be everything to everyone, but in a way that made it feel misguided and all-over-the-place. There’s stuff clearly conceived and tailored for the older ladies who lunch and buy Armani out of their own pocketbooks, a big swing toward trying to capitalize on the midriff trend, and some fussy fringe and volume and lacy bits and pleats and inexplicable waist adornments (slide 76, I’m looking at you) and and and…. it’s a mixed bag, is what I’m saying, and one that needed a more commanding edit. But there are still some pieces with the streamlined glamour that represents the Armani of my mind’s eye. I can’t wait to see Slide 54 on someone, as well as 78, 79, 81, 83, and 90.
