In his work De Officiis (On Duties or On Obligations, 44 BC), Cicero wrote about the best way to live, behave, and observe moral obligations. In one section of the essay, Cicero wrote about favouring an appearance of neatness, a rule, he highlighted, that should have been applied also to the way we dress, "in this, as in most things, the best rule is the golden mean," the Roman scholar concluded. Cicero conceived the golden mean as a balance between extremes, between excesses and deficiencies.
If there is a designer who made a virtue (and a career out…) of the "golden mean" that must be Giorgio Armani. While other designers are often quick at embracing the excesses of modern times, Armani has constantly produced throughout his career collections revolving around sober silhouettes and functional designs made with luxurious fabrics.
The golden mean rule returned yesterday in his A/W 22 collection showcased at the Armani theater in Via Borgonuova during Milan Fashion Week. But there was also something else: the designer felt he had to send out a message, a signal about Vladimir Putin's Russia invasion of Ukraine that started last week. Since then we have all seen tragic images of people fleeing the country, children crying, shelled buildings and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy actively leading the resistance.
The media report that over 300,000 Ukrainians - mainly women with their children or grandchildren, have left the country since last Thursday, while dozens were killed in attacks in Kyiv and on the city of Kharkiv. As we hear commentators talking about a Third World War, it seems somehow incredibly superficial just to think about fashion weeks and parties.
Armani felt the same and opted to showcase his collection without music. Before the runway a voice read a statement from the designer explaining, "My decision not to use any music in the show was made as a sign of respect to the people involved in the unfolding tragedy in Ukraine."
Then the show began, solemn, sober and luxurious: Armani's signature tailored jackets were made with metallic brocades that evoked in their abstract shapes Giacomo Balla's dynamic paintings; zigzagging motifs and geometries pointed at Art Deco inspirations, while flapper dresses summoned up the Roaring Twenties, an era of prosperity, strong growth and social ebullience and maybe a reference the designer wanted to make about a post-Covid rebirth.
Crystals and beads usually shine on runways, but in this case they could also be heard clicking on the beaded fringed dresses, creating a new soundscape together with the heels of the models walking down the runway.
Softness prevailed in the shapes and in the textiles especially in the velvet fabrics chosen for both men and women's wear and in the draped skirts and soft pants. In that softness you could read a metaphor for a new approach to life, based on dignity and reason, rather than power and aggression.
Silence played in favour of the designs as it helped refocusing the attention on the clothes, reminding people that quite often during runway shows we get distracted by special effects, from lights to loud music to special guests.
There was also somebody very special sitting in the front row that elevated the show: 91-year-old Italian Senator for Life and Holocaust survivor Liliana Segre. Armani met her at the opening of La Scala and she expressed her desire to see one of his shows.
In this context Segre was a living reminder of the horrors of the Second World War, and her sobriety also made you wonder what would happen in fashion if there were more clever icons sitting in the front row rather than celebrities and armies of condescending influencers.
Armani's statement is the first message of solidarity sent by the fashion elite during a major event and highlights his sensitivity, reminding younger generations that fashion designers do have responsibilities in our society.
In the last two years Armani joined the effort to fight the Coronavirus pandemic: in March 2020, when Covid-19 started spreading in the north of Italy, the designer decided to hold his runway show behind closed doors. In the same month he donated 1.25 million euros to the Luigi Sacco and San Raffaele hospitals and the Istituto dei Tumori in Milan, as well as the Istituto Lazzaro Spallanzani in Rome, and the Italian Protezione Civile (Civil Protection), and bought a page on more than 60 Italian dailies to publish a note to all the healthcare providers fighting the Coronavirus outbreak.
At the beginning of this year, as a spike was registered in Covid cases Armani cancelled the Fall 2022 menswear Armani and Emporio Armani runways at Milan men's fashion week and the Armani Privé collection at Haute Couture Week in Paris.
Milan Fashion Week kicked off as Putin started invading Ukraine and, while this event was taking place, there were demos in Milan and in cities all over the world attacking Putin and in support of Ukraine, and we can expect to see more demos during Paris Fashion Week.
In the meantime, Armani may have inspired a trend with his silent show: Taroni Silk, one of the oldest silkweaving mills in Como, posted on its Instagram page an image of blue and yellow threads on one of it looms, referencing the Ukrainian flag without adding any messages, but letting the threads speak (after all, they are so symbolic, since we are a bit like threads forming the tapestry of the universe, so who needs words to accompany this image?).
Last but not least, the curator and artists of the Pavilion of the Russian Federation at La Biennale di Venezia, showed moderation and understanding by spontaneously resigning from their positions, thereby cancelling the Russian participation in the 59th International Art Exhibition. In a brief press release, La Biennale expressed "solidarity for this noble act of courage" and supported their motivations and decision, reminding people the event remains a place to meet in art and culture, and condemning all those who use violence to prevent dialogue and peace.
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