Emporio Armani : the fashion Emperor fetes near the Tower of London

By

Godfrey Deeny

Published
Sep 18, 2017

This was Giorgio Armani’s weekend in London. The Italian took over 700 London cabs – covering them with his latest Emporio campaign, so it was visible to literally millions of Londoners and tourists. 
 

Armani was in town to celebrate the re-modeling of his Emporio Armani store at 51-52 New Bond Street. He feted that by staging the Emporio spring 2018 collection in the UK capital. Luring lots of hot London names to his show: Ellie Goulding, the singer who performed at Prince William and bride Katie’s wedding reception; cool crooner Tom O’Dell; or rapper Dizzee Rascal, most of whose videos come with Parental Advisories. An eclectic front-row – including plenty of beauties like Olivia Palermo or Poppy Delevingne, and, why not?
 
Suitably for a fashion emperor, his show was held just a mile from the Tower of London. Henry VIII sent several wives and England’s great classic scholar Thomas More to the huge stone prison.  Before he had their heads cut off. Armani was in a more friendly mood – sending out his most optimistic collection in quite a few years.

His guests all were ferried out in Jaguars, or the Emporio cabs, past the Tower Bridge to riverside Wapping and its Tobacco Dock. There, the designer built his customary black box with dark comfortable seating, and his preferred clean white runway. Out marched the cast – with ice cream, Pop Art colored tops, covered in nautical imagery, from crabs and seashells to miniature sea monsters and open-mouthed blue fish.
 
In a mixed show, the guys wore wonderfully crisp dry wool suits; sporty micro judo jackets in white nylon and one fine wool Atlantic blue redingote with white piping that was cut with a truly flawless line.
 
The mood was jaunty, playful, just liked Armani when he greeted fans backstage.
 
“Why am I in London? Because this city is always a great source of inspiration, of ideas and of creativity. One feels in London at the center of an enormous, positive vortex. Plus, I wanted to see what the new boutique looked like,” laughed the 83-year-old designer.
 
Asked about all the bold color scheme, Armani replied with a big laugh: “It’s a homage to your Queen Elizabeth,” in reference to the Queen’s insistence that she wear vibrant hues so that her subjects can more easily spot her at public events.
 
Plus, like the monarch, Armani likes to put something back in. To wit, he collaborated with the British Fashion Council, creating a design contest where the three winning fashion students – Boyeong Lim, Dimitry Gotsfrid and Kameel Kayam Shahjhan – created, respectively, a bag, bomber jacket and shoe. These will be made in a capsule collection that goes on sale on Monday in Emporio UK stores, and on the web in late September. How does one say 'noblesse oblige' in Italian.