Just as Milan is awakening with Spring’s first sunbeams and warmer temperatures after a generally cold winter in Europe, the new season has also entered the building at Emporio Armani but the fresh air from the Armani Privé and Giorgio Armani men’s collections has now turned into a strong creative wind. Leo Dell’Orco and Silvana Armani taking a bow in the Tadao Ando show space on Via Bergognone were the most familiar things about this Emporio Armani show. The collection was a radical new interpretation of the fashion from this house, and it scored first and foremost with the most important currency in our industry: it was young, it felt fresh, it was credible, you could easily imagine all the models from the catwalk descend straight into the designer’s own nightclub on via Manzoni for a good party which has not always been the case here.

The runway was full of great denim, work-wear jackets, tweed tailoring and fun column dresses with bouncing seams. In fact, the three-piece tweed suits with caps recalled the movie The Untouchables (of course with costumes by the late Mr. Armani) or the Tweaky Blinders series, the dissertation on the white shirt flexed a newfound design muscle. The casting was all new with a gang of fresh-faced models which laudably included a strong focus on people of color to cement the brand as a global outfitter. Whoever comes up with the idea to associate the brand with new influences, from the Alanui collab at men’s to the Indochine restaurant association in hospitality is on the right track.