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Emporio Armani

MILAN, January 19, 2005
By Tim Blanks
The soundtracks designers choose can tell you an awful lot about their intentions. From the cheery whistling that launched the show to the well-seasoned croak of Leonard Cohen singing "I'm Your Man" later on, the music Giorgio Armani used for his Emporio collection created a composite image of a man brimming with self-confidence. So much so that he can toss a faux-fur stole over his tobacco velvet jacket without feeling his masculinity is remotely compromised.

Armani was in love with dandies this season. It wasn't just the leopard-print jacket, or the pony-print leather, or the graphic-print velvets, or the full trousers with their slight sparkle. It was the whole slicked-hair attitude, as insouciant as that whistle. Skinny rib knits were paired with satin trousers, and a suit in a classic Prince of Wales check was worn with sneakers. Tempting as it was to interpret the ambiguity as the fallout from Armani's work on the Cole Porter biopic De-Lovely, it must be pointed out that the jacket on that suit was noticeably broad of shoulder—as unambiguously male as anything William Holden would have worn in his Hollywood prime.

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