 |
Armani Plots a New French RevolutionThe Italian designer Giorgio Armani, who revolutionised women's fashion 30 years ago with the introduction of soft tailored beige suiting for the career wardrobe, is staging another revolution in Paris today.
At an age when other business tycoons have long retired to their yacht or palazzo in Tuscany, the 70 year old Armani is making his debut as a couturier with the opening show in the French haute couture season this morning.
In typically autocratic style, Armani, who is the head of a $2billion lifestyle empire, is doing it his way.
Brushing aside convention in this historic, and historically expensive, French industry established in 1868, he is staging his first haute couture show with the emphasis on accessibility and a price list attached.
Where other couturiers blush or feign selective hearing when asked how much one of their one-off creations costs, on the basis of if you have to ask, you can't afford it, Armani has nothing to hide.
His haute couture collection of evening wear, for spring/summer 2005, will be priced between £12,800 and £46,500 - probably around the lower-to-mid reaches of a Chanel suit or Christian Dior cocktail dress, with three fittings.
"The rules of couture have changed. This is the modern side of French haute couture. And I'm modern," Armani said yesterday, as he
more: www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jht... (196)
bookmark: 
24/1/2005 | Viewed 9,953 time(s)
|
|
