Imagine a world where men wore fall 2025 designs by Giorgio Armani whenever they boarded a flight?
Ahhh, that looks better!
The 90-year-old designer is on a roll this Milan men’s season, following up a strong Emporio Armani showing with a signature collection that further demonstrated that men needn’t sacrifice elegance for comfort.
He turned again to velvet and other plush materials, along with lightweight salt-and-pepper tweeds and wool flannels that could be layered up as shirts, shirt jackets and cardigans — and still come off as pajama-easy.
The fits here were even looser than at Emporio, notably on harem-esque pants that swelled through the leg and then narrowed at the ankle over noiseless shoes: fluff-out shearling slip-ons, fluff-in shearling loafers or gently padded leather ankle boots.
Newsflash: There were even hoodies, but zhuzhed up in herringbone-textured velvets, matched with velvet fedoras and worn over a simple crewneck sweater and belted dress pants. Smashing.
With the likes of actor Adrien Brody and TV producer Darren Star looking on, back-to-back shows at Armani’s intimate subterranean theater on Via Borgonuovo unfurled in chapters, with a skiwear interlude and a coed eveningwear finale, where black velvet figured prominently as shawl-collared tuxedo jackets and cardigans.
Monochromatic dressing has been trending on Milan’s runways, and Armani offered them not only in gray, navy and black, but also ruby red, deep green and blue velvet — perhaps a subliminal tribute to the late David Lynch, who directed Giorgio Armani commercials back in the ’90s.
The designer’s outerwear game was strong, ranging from tissue-thin shearling duster jackets to heftier, more enveloping overcoats in shearling, tactile tweeds or double-face cashmere.
The press notes characterized the fall collection as an “exploration of possibilities rather than a pre-packaged formula” for a man “unafraid to embrace his individuality and gently challenge conventions” — maybe even on airplanes.
