Giorgio Armani envisages his man strong and powerful for Autumn/Winter 2013. He offered us Milanese dressing at it's best by building a collection around traditional pieces like the shirt, the tie and the jacket. Rather than embrace new tribes of men, Armani had looked to the classics - the jocks, the sportsmen, the business men - as his fashion heroes.
Instead of pursuing sartorial innovation as he did with such gusto in his Emporio collection, Armani had toyed with aspects of old and new by matching sportswear with classic, traditional menswear staples. It's an interesting reference to how men on the street are dressing as the new sportswear silhouettes gradually move from catwalk to pavement and start seeping into wardrobes alongside diehard old favourites. But is Armani the man to set about dreaming up these new dress combinations of old and new, formality and informality? After all, aside from the sprinkling of exciting material clashes like neoprene with leather and velvet, this collection was old school Armani, and decidedly self-referencing in its colour palette and vintage dandyisms (red velvet trousers and a quilted blazer, anyone?). Even the show notes made a sly dig at the young gang of menswear talents who have won acclaim for their genuinely innovative mentality (see Umit Benan in Milan and the majority of designers showing in London), by declaring that their would be ‘no flirtatious provocations that often amount to little more than sly trickery.’
Well there was no fool play or flirtations here. This was straight up, simple Armani. It may seems somewhat dated to us fashion folk, but it'll pull in the loyal punters in the way only he can.
