Friday 3 February 2012

Haute Couture | Natural Skins by ARMANI Privé

 


ARMANI Privé Haute Couture Spring/Summer 2012 

The worlds of fashion and and show business collided at Giorgio Armani's couture show in  an entirely unprecedent was. With apposite timing, the Oscar nominations for the Academy Awards were just breaking on the audience's smartphones seconds before the show began. The designer's longtime client Glenn Glose is on the list of Best Actress contenders and, just before the show started, Jessica Chastain, settled in the front row, heard that she'd been nominated to an Oscar. There were shrieks, there were cheers, but Chastain held back the tears till Armani himself presented her with a massive bouquet backstage after the show. Now that's PR.





Given that thunder-stealing moment, you might imagine that the collection would be slightly back-seated, but it was almost as if Armani had anticipated the competition, because he rolled out this most persuasive couture outing to date. It helped that this theme was metamorphosis, with particular emphasis on the snake, whose powers of persuasion are legendarily recorded in best-selling nouvels like the Bible. The snake sheds skin, the butterfly emerged from a chrysalis - both natural processes influenced the silhouettes of the collection. The skirts, for one thing, which were deeply folded like a pod. Or the evening pieces, where sequined bodice slithered out of a swag or silk.

The fine geometric mesh fabric was constructed in the shape of snakes' scales: this was a collection based on the idea of pythons, serpents, the textures and patterns of the reptile world. Maybe Armani had been looking at the serpentine photos of Guido Mocafico, because the color palette starred the same absinthe-bright, disconcerting green of Mocafico's snakes, just as the prints had the same coiled intensity and the shiny fabrics duplicated the soft sheen of snakeskin. The mesh laid over jackets and the skirts looked like reptile scales, the crocodile was obviously the real thing.










Like Karl Lagerfeld earlier in that couture show day, Armani set out to design his collection in a single color range: in his case, green - chartreuse (absinthe as mentioned before), poison green, teal, deep green. At first, the trop wasn't declared in full. His day wear, essentially pencil skirts with a folded-in frontal volume, or narrow pants - threw the emphasis on his singnature strength in jackets, with a couple of mean, super-luxe crocodile versions withn swooped-up shoulders, nipped waists and peplums as standouts.

Really, though, his audience waits for Armani to stake his claim on grand evening-wear, especially at this time of year. Perhaps the poufy circle skirts, with their faded digital python prints might be a difficult choice to maneuver in the step-and-repeat ritual. But when Armani reached the conclusion of his visual narrative - the idea of metamorphosis - the forms peeled away to leave some slim, powerful, shining gowns, undoubtedly undulating towards that long, red carpet very soon. The strong contrast made for a strong show. And if Jessica Chastain believes in lucky charms, we know what she'll be wearing come Oscar night.

























Selections by ANDREA JANKE Finest Accessories

Photo Credit/Source: VOGUE
Photography by Yannis Vlamos/GoRunway

Enjoy my previous post - Armani Ready-to-Wear Spring/Summer 2012 Collection - 







1 comment:

Shagun said...

Exquisite creations...simply an Avante Garde couture by Armani Prive. The snake prints are so bold & powerful in beauty & effectively mixed in designs.I love the fusion of shades of green...like, Spring.A fascinating review by you, dear Andrea, with lovely pictures!!!...Cheers, Shagun

Post a Comment

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...