“I Predict A Resurgence Of Dressing Up”: Giorgio Armani On His AW21 Collection & Fashion After Lockdown

This week marks a year since Giorgio Armani became the first designer to cancel attendance for a fashion show amid the pandemic. After our lives in lockdown, Armani – ever the realist – proposed an autumn/winter 2021 collection tempered to a cautious return to reality. Practical and elegant in nature, the garments were invigorated by a bright green gorilla statue Armani said was there simply to delight. He echoed that sentiment in surprising details scattered around the collection, lifting our post-pandemic mood. For as he told British Vogue’s fashion critic Anders Christian Madsen, our appetite for dressing up needs that boost of energy.

If the vaccines work, this collection will be in stores when we return to ‘normal’ life. Was this something you considered?

I certainly designed this collection with better times in mind. I think this moment calls for kindness, and perhaps even a touch of romance. This is an element that is merely hinted at, captured by the detail of a small ruche on the collar, by light flashes of crystals on a surface, or by delicate and surprising colours. This is a collection that is gracefully reassuring.

What was your intention with the men’s leopard jacket and the kimonos, as well as the women’s ruffled ponchos?

Fashion is surprise, isn’t it? I want to surprise, and this is why I added such pieces. Fashion should also be a boost of energy and irony.

One of the evening dresses is adorned with your own portrait in crystals. What motivated this?

Again, this is an ironic wink. The T-shirts with my portrait by Bob Krieger sell so well at the Silos, and there was a famous dress emblazoned with my face a few years ago in a collection. The public responds well to me being on the dresses, and I do not mind that. Please forgive this whim.
How do you think the pandemic and its lockdowns will have impacted the way we will dress and shop once we return to real life?

We have been living through a period of strange disruption, and our habits of dressing have been impacted by the requirement to stay at home. And though we may have started to value comfort and ease more and more in our outfits, this has somehow worked in my favour, as comfort is something I have always seen as paramount to the success of my work. If you feel comfortable in your clothes, you feel confident.

Will the comfort-wear of a year in lockdown prevail?

The dressing-down trend will have done nothing to dent our desire to look good and our craving for beauty and elegance. And do not forget, you can still be elegant even if you are dressing in a more casual and relaxed way. However, I do predict that when we are allowed to pursue our lives in a more normal way, there will be a resurgence of dressing-up as people socialise again. And in this context, elegance never goes out of style.

At this stage, how do you feel about digital shows?

No event can be compared to a fashion show, an instrument that we cannot do without in terms of format, energy, effectiveness. We will certainly have to rethink the format of fashion shows and fashion weeks, by looking at smaller, more intimate groups only for professionals and using the digital formula to reach a wider audience. But I don’t think the solution is to rely entirely on digital. It can be done in an emergency, but buyers and the press must be able to see the clothes up close, touch them.

What is the future of fashion week?

In addition, the fashion week is a fundamental social moment for the industry: we get together for the shows but also to discuss. It is an extremely important moment and, albeit virtual, is a web that includes both established and smaller brands, and it offers everyone the opportunity to present their work in the same moment. Therefore, I am convinced that fashion weeks, as such, must be preserved. The virtual fashion show can be a support, but it is not the future.