Just down the row was little Chloë Moretz, wearing a cloudy gray chiffon top, also sparkling with crystals.
Who knows how deliberately these things are orchestrated, but by coincidence or not, they were about to watch an Armani Privé collection for fall which was entirely in black, white, and red. “Three basic colors, tone on tone,” Mr. Armani said.
The first third explored Armani’s tailoring—short swing coats, sometimes over shorts, a pantsuit with a geometric bell cut into the sleeves, and jackets with fluted peplums.
Flashes of strong lacquer red (an echo of Armani’s abiding love of Asia) built through the collection until it was fully out there in long evening dresses of the sleekness that endears so many movie stars to Mr. Armani.
Still, he wasn’t in the mood for sticking to the predictable straight and narrow this season. There was a distinct aura of whimsy—or call it dottiness—about the way he started to whip up meters of tulle into skirts as densely frilled as pom-poms, and add headdresses and net veils smothered with red or black polka dots.
Part playful, part a nod to a classic trope of fifties haute couture imagery, the veiling eventually grew to cover one or two models, and their dresses, entirely. When the finale dressed appeared—including a black dress with multiple white dots under a black-and-white spotted veil—the model looked as if she’d been caught up in a snowstorm on a winter’s night. In a nice way.
