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Giorgio Armani and Venice do not appear, at first sight, to be aesthetically contiguous entities. Although he does not shy away from flashes and gleams, Armani has always favored an idea of reduced elegance, a style in which he escapes to reach the essence: vibrant, never sparse. Venice, on the other hand, is a rococo foaming of frivolity, trifles and opulences that are refracted and multiplied on roads made of water; she is glowing, composite, joyously excessive, eternally imperfect in her damp decay.
“I would like the public to imagine this fashion show as a game, a divertissement, a moment of escape,” says Armani. He speaks before the One Night Only show, which took place last night in Venice in the presence of a regal parterre presided over by the incorruptible Sophia Loren, with a bevy of stars, directors, actors, colleagues.
Seated on a chair in front of the audience, in the solemn and rough space of the Tese delle Nappe inside the Arsenale – in fact, what remains of an industry that was flourishing before the industrial revolution – is an unexpected Armani find in front. The severity to which he has accustomed us in his 48-year career can still be seen at times, but a touching emotionality bursts onto the scene, even more surprising because it is unexpected. The voice vibrates; he almost breaks down in tears when he tells of the affection lavished by perfect strangers in these Venetian days. «Feeling so much transport, like today, from an octogenarian lady who has perhaps never worn my things, repays me for all the hard work» he says. He too gets excited talking about the show «I would like to send a message of joy with these clothes».
It is a commedia dell’arte in the Armani version: harlequins, doves, ruffs and a profusion of lozenges. Carnival is around the corner, but the joy of seeking other expressive keys is authentic, like the emotion of its author.