Silvana Armani worked alongside her uncle, Giorgio Armani, for over forty years. Her journey at the House was atypical and almost ironic: she started as a model, briefly found herself behind the reception desk, and later officially joined the company, working for many years on the Emporio Armani line. When the maestro launched Armani Privé twenty years ago, he entrusted her with the role of his right-hand man. After Giorgio Armani’s death in September, Silvana stepped out of his shadow for the first time, presenting her own vision as creative director of the couture House. In a season filled with high-profile debuts by male designers, she became the only woman to lead the couture brand today.
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Her first collection, created together with the design team, turned out to be elegant and feminine – light in mood, flowing in lines, balanced and confident. Accessories are kept to a minimum, hats are completely absent, despite Giorgio Armani's well-known passion for them. Masculine tailoring in her interpretation does not conflict with femininity, but is softened. The collection opened with relaxed suits with loose blazers, transparent organza shirts with ties and wide trousers with pleats. The overall effect is clean, collected and carefully edited: decorativeness is reduced exclusively to embroidery.
Silvana Armani's couture gravitates towards everyday life – not as a spectacle, but as a living space. “From a woman, for women,” she says. The collection features fewer dresses and more daywear, and the colour palette is quiet and refined: shades of jade, chosen as a symbol of harmony and well-being, are revealed in turquoise-green tones and the most delicate powdery pink nuances. If masculinity does appear, it is intentional – as a reference to Giorgio Armani himself, whose work has become increasingly feminine in recent years. The clear number was also an important gesture: 60 looks instead of the traditional hundred – clarity instead of excess.
Dresses shimmered with layers of microcrystals, creating an almost weightless, luminous transparency. In other looks, structural corsets seemed to float over long skirts of elliptical panels, and jumpers with ruffles were worn with slight negligence over palazzo trousers. One of the strongest exits was a tight column dress, completely encrusted with translucent crystals, complemented by a black satin coat with a turquoise lining. The glamour without excesses is restrained and undeniably spectacular.
The finale was an emotional tribute to the maestro: a wedding dress designed by Giorgio Armani himself. The white model with long sleeves, a fitted bodice and a flared skirt, embroidered with circles of lace, was conceived for his last couture show, but was never presented. It was now that Silvana decided that her time had come.
