The 86-year-old fashion designer and entrepreneur Giorgio Armani continues to be a pioneer. For the show scheduled for the next Milan Fashion Week he decided to “reach the general public” by unveiling the collection on television. It is the first time that the Italian maison shows a show on live TV. The event will be broadcast on September 26 in prime time on La7 and simultaneously on the Armani website, on the company’s social channels and on the platform of the Chamber of Fashion (CNMI). Thus, although the parade will take place behind closed doors, as had already happened in February, everyone will be able to attend.
“Considering, reluctantly, that the situation linked to the pandemic still in progress does not allow the shows to be staged as in the past, the designer chooses two different ways to propose the collections, without the presence of the public” reads a note released by the ‘company.
The Giorgio Armani S / S 2021 collection will be broadcast on TV, while that of the Emporio Armani brand will be broadcast online on 24 September at 11.30 on emporioarmani-buildingdialogues.com, on social networks and on the CNMI website.
The decision had already been anticipated by “King George” in an interview with Corriere della Sera:
“The simplest ideas can sometimes be the best,” Armani explained to the newspaper. “Fashion on TV had its moment of high spectacularization in the Eighties, when we stylists often appeared there, dispensing advice of all kinds, but it has never been used to describe a new collection, which not even the experts have yet seen. There is talk of democratization, and what is more democratic than television? “.
And then again: «The facts have proved me right. The sense of responsibility is a moral duty: I was afraid for myself, for my collaborators, for my audience. A choice that I would make again and that makes me feel at peace with myself “. When asked what he hated this summer, he replied: «The too lightness of acting as if nothing had happened». About what he loved: “The rediscovery by the Italians of our country, so full of beauty of all kinds”.
Armani’s commitment to the emergency
Armani was among the first entrepreneurs to take drastic measures against the spread of the virus, already with the closed-door fashion show on February 21 or with the timely stop of a week at work in factories and offices. He donated 2 million euros to hospitals and civil protection. And, in the midst of the emergency, it converted its factories in Italy to produce disposable gowns for doctors, nurses and health workers working on the front line. The Milan businessman wrote to them in an open letter.
«It is moving to see you engaged in your work with the difficulties and great efforts that the whole world now knows. I think this feeling is connected to my desire to pursue a career as a doctor when I was young and I was looking for my own path ».