Giorgio Armani: New Classic

Giorgio Armani's show notes promised an assault on boring tradition, but the presentation itself was nowhere near as aggressive. Softly has been the approach favored by a few designers in the face of the current challenging climate. It came naturally to Armani, whose longtime affection for the plushy hand of velvet was expressed in the way he layered or quilted the fabric, and even cut a pair of self-tying baggy pants. This last item was about as offbeat as the designer got, which was something of a disappointment given some of the flights of eccentricity they had from him recently. There was a coat with a crisscross closing that induced a skirt like flare that felt neo-medieval, but otherwise, Armani is commercially astute enough to know that one item that is selling well right now is the suit, so he gave them a raft of options in his signature style: a natural shoulder, cardigan like ease, trousers with an almost knit like fluidity.

He called his collection "New Classic." A biker jacket in blue knit certainly embodied that idea. And the way Armani used scarves and wraps to supplant ties and shirts suggested a loosey-goosey approach to tradition.