No appearance by Giorgio Armani at his latest Armani Privé couture show in Paris, but at least, a sumptuous, stylish, sassy and sophisticated collection in a triumph by the great Italian couturier.

Created pretty much all in black, albeit blended with a rich array of blues, this was fall/winter 2025 collection will go down as one of Armani’s most dazzling couture collections ever.
 
Staged inside his neo-classical couture salons on Rue François 1er in the tony 8th arrondissement, the show attracted Angela Basset, Marisa Berenson, and socialite Mouna Ayoub.

The Milanese couturier opened with some beautifully cut pants – slim jodhpur style – paired with slinky tunics and boleros, one more elegant that the other. Made in iridescent silks and jacquards, cut with just one lapel, embroidered in Asian tree silhouettes or encrusted with buttons they all looked great.

See catwalk

His dresses – finished with colored insert or emblazoned with metallic roses –  flowed easily. Blending elements of Passementarie, crystals and small showers of beading, the clothes dazzled and glimmered as the models strolled along the faux alabaster catwalk laid out through a series of grand rooms.

The whole show building to a great climax – a score of all black looks, starring remarkable liquid metallic silk pants, masculine tuxedos and several looks that featured a path-breaking new garment: a tailcoat cut like a redingote and finished with military frogging. The models wearing this new idea beamed with pride, smiling beneath their black sequinned berets.
 
Backed up by a great soundtrack that mixed up Norman composer Gregoire Jokic’s “There Will Be Light” and  German jazz singer Max Raabe’s retro jazz track “Speak Low”.

See catwalk

“Black acquires a special luminosity, born of the juxtaposition of velvet and metallic silks and the contrasting pavé crystals and gold of the. linings, suggestively catching indiscreet gazes,” argued Armani in the program notes to this show, which earned a standing ovation from the audience. 

“Seductive black defines a stylistic grammar in which opposites come together with grace and harmony,” added Armani. 
 
Just like his soundtrack.