"Classicismo del 2010," the name Giorgio Armani gave his latest collection, could be interpreted in a couple of ways.
One might be the commercial security of classic pieces at a time when self-indulgence is scarcely at a premium.
A three-piece gray suit paired with a striped shirt and sober tie certainly meant business.
And there were plenty of other tailored options for the Armani-loving exec: jackets with three buttons or two, single- or double-breasted, in a full range of classic menswear fabrications—houndstooth, Prince of Wales, pied de poule, windowpane check.
But the other interpretation had more to do with Armani himself, confronted by a flood tide of speculation in the local media about the state of his health.
Viewed in that light, this collection could almost be seen as an effort on the designer's part to refute such speculation and shore up his own legacy.
There were enough Armani classics to back up such a notion.
Start with those suits, for instance.
The cut, simultaneously trim and soft, is an Armani signature.
A double-breasted jacket in navy had all the languor of a silk cardigan.
The same indolent effect was achieved by a jacket over a waistcoat over…bare skin.
A crocodile blazer embodied a different kind of luxe (that the parka in python-printed nylon seemed to be having a sly dig at).
Then there was Armani's enduring orientalism, indulged in a mandarin-collared silk jacket or his choice of hot pink as an accent color.
And the blue skies and seas of his beloved Mediterranean were endlessly echoed toward the end of the show.
For connoisseurs of the designer's love of the odd eccentric touch, cargo shorts in what looked like navy velour surely fit the bill.
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