For his SS19 Emporio Armani show, Giorgio Armani cranked it up a notch, presenting a flamboyant fashion spectacle at a hangar in Milan’s Linate Airport. Having shown his most recent Spring/Summer collections in Paris and London, this was a sort of homecoming for the ultimate Milanese brand, complete with a purpose built square runway flanked with multiple suspended screens, and a heart-stopping 2,300 guests. There was no surer thing: this was a flashy extravaganza more in keeping with a stadium pop concert or sports game than your average fashion show — even Robbie Williams, if somewhat bizarrely, turned up to perform a handful of hits, belting out “Let me Entertain You” in a besequinned Armani kilt. Yes, you heard us right.
But amongst all the kerfuffle of getting through actual airport security and the pop star special guests, there were also a whopping 174 looks to see. Armani paraded a whole spectrum of colour and styles down his custom runway, starting with wetlook pewter streetwear through to biscuit, gold-tinted daywear, onto elegant dove grey and navy tailoring, before culminating in outrageous acid greens and eye-popping sapphire evening wear. Even in a show as a gargantuan and showy as this, there were still some common threads to poke out, among them: crushed suits; sheer, diaphanous harem trousers; casual blues; shimmering tuxedo jackets; baseball caps; gauzy tops and bottoms, and ostentatious talking points like unicorn-coloured sequins, snakeskin, ‘80s puffballs, and a coat curiously reminiscent of Battenberg cake. As the show came to its crescendo with Williams at the helm, it was never more apparent that nobody does outrageous glamour for the mile high set quite like Armani.