The main inspiration for Armani Privé’s Autumn/Winter 2011-12 collection – a tribute to Japan, the country struck in March by the earthquake, tsunami and consequent nuclear emergency – could have somehow been foreseen in April.
During Milan’s Salone del Mobile, Armani Casa presented indeed its new collection featuring sofas and armchairs characterised by symmetry and harmony and made with Oriental fabrics created by Rubelli, a renowned company that has been manufacturing luxurious textiles following the highest craftsmanship standards for over 150 years.
Rubelli’s window shop in Venice is currently dedicated to the fabrics made for Armani and also features a kimono.
The juxtaposition between this traditional Japanese garment and Armani’s signature silhouettes created interesting results in Armani Privé’s Autumn/Winter 2011-12 collection.
Velvet jackets with pagoda shoulders were closed with flat obi belts; pink and fuchsia flowers bloomed on black coats; cherry blossoms or paper parasols decorated the fabric used for slim cut trouser and skirt suits while long skirts were diagonally slashed open to reveal Japanese patterns. Accessories included jade flower brooches and Philip Treacy’s colourful and sculptural obis.
Undoubtedly behind Armani’s Japonisme there was also a sort of futuristic Blade Runner-like element emphasised by the cold symmetries of his suits, the shiny black patent leather bodices and his well-designed uniform-like silhouettes, yet there was also something else that went beyond the fashion tribute following his contribution to the Unesco scholarship program to help child victims of the disaster.
Indeed some of the nuances, patterns and colours employed in the collection displayed some derivation from the costumes created for two different Giacomo Puccini productions of "Madama Butterfly" at Milan's La Scala by Japanese painter Léonard Tsuguharu Foujita (1951 - second and third image in this post) and by Haute Couture fashion designer Hanae Mori (1985 - first image in this post).
There was one reference in particular to a kimono by Foujita with hand-painted motifs of fans, though fans came back in Armani’s collection as headdresses by Treacy and as fan-shaped sequins on boleros. It's also interesting to notice how Foujita often used in his costumes for Puccini's opera bright colours such as fuchsia and pink fading into more neutral tones like pearly greys, shades that Armani always favoured.
Though this reference wasn’t mentioned by Armani, it is likely that he saw the designs during various exhibitions of costumes for operas organised at Milan’s La Scala Theatre a few years ago.
To put you further into a "Madama Butterfly" mood I'm going to leave you with Maria Callas singing "Un bel dì vedremo". Enjoy.
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