Celebrity Life

We explore how the man and mogul, Giorgio Armani has impacted modern fashion and lifestyle.

2020 has been a year of change, revolution and disruptions to the old ways of things. It leaves us all wondering what will be the new normal. In uncertain times, however, there’s a comfort to looking towards things that have withstood the test of time – surviving and thriving throughout the years, not least in the world of fashion. So, we’re raising our champagne glasses to a mogul of style, Giorgio Armani, a true pioneer who’s impacted both menswear and womenswear, and created a business empire and a fashion lifestyle that’s lasted decades. Celebrating the man and the brand, as well as the timeless styles he has spawned, 2020 marks 45 years of a progressive legend.

[caption id="attachment_208620" align="alignnone" width="1392"] Giorgio armani’s ode to china closed his autumn/winter women’s 2020 show.[/caption]

There can be few living menswear figures who have impacted popular culture as much as this Italian designer and billionaire. Since he launched his label in 1975, Armani has become the European emperor of men’s fashion, with a brand whose influence extends far beyond the runway.

Womenswear came, too, with well-heeled ladies attracted to his confident lines and powerful statements. Additional investment and expansion moves later led to children’s fashion, a younger Emporio Armani line, as well as Armani Privé, the couture line. His pioneering spirit has also been on ethical issues, going fur-free in 2016 and being the first to ban women with a BMI of under 18 from his runways following the death of an anorexic model.

Armani studied medicine and served in the military before embarking on a career in fashion, his first design role being at the house of Nino Cerruti. Armani founded his own brand in 1975 with Sergio Galeotti, and has since been honoured repeatedly over the decades for design, creativity and promoting Italian craft by institutions such as the Royal College of Art, the CFDA, the Italian government (which elevated him to Grand’Ufficiale dell’Ordine al Merito della Repubblica) and the French government (he was awarded the LEgion d’Honneur in 2008).

[caption id="attachment_208622" align="alignnone" width="1382"] Giorgio Armani Men’s Autumn/Winter 2020[/caption]

The aesthetic has remained steady and true to Armani’s own design ethos, with precise, sharp lines and a dash of old-school Italian elegance always evident. There are seasonal angles, naturally, with the latest autumn/winter 2020 women’s collection including an ode to China (a country where he’s been hugely popular since Western luxury labels first landed). The finale, in an empty show space in Milan (due to Covid-19), saw a line-up of Chinese models in Armani Privé archive pieces from 2009 and 2019, in a symbol of solidarity for the current times.

There have been countless red carpets and celebrities, of course – it was Armani himself who pioneered the concept of red-carpet dressing. Film easily became another forte, with Armani working on more than 200 of them and creating some epic fashion moments on celluloid for Richard Gere in American Gigolo and Kevin Costner in The Bodyguard, as well as early-’90s power suits in Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street and Christopher Nolan’s Batman. Whether it was handsome heartthrobs or anti-heroes, Armani’s fashion defined a look of a period and a male sartorial film culture.

The empire is huge – aside from fashion, accessories, fragrance and footwear, there are also successful lines of homeware, cosmetics, florals and even hotels. In a time of fashion conglomerates, billionaire Giorgio Armani has stayed independent with mogul status cemented. After 45 years at the top of the game, he remains the sole shareholder of Giorgio Armani SpA.

[caption id="attachment_208623" align="alignnone" width="1388"] The Armani hotel in Milan[/caption]

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Giorgio Armani's spring summer collection pays homage by nothing more fundamental than mother nature. Titled Earth, the designs were inspired by the legendary mythological character Echo – a spirit, a metaphor of femininity, lighting, creativity and imagination – which its elements and colours are very apparent throughout the show. The journey begins with Armani’s most renowned and typical territory – suits – the usual structural silhouette is replaced by almost weightless, kimono-style cut, with roundness in the shoulders, emphasis on the waistline which follows the natural curves of the body.

Organic shapes and floral prints in soft pinks, muted greens, lilacs, dove greys and liquid blues take over the runway in ethereal floor length silk dresses, parachute pants, raw ruffled seam detailing, tropical floral prints, embroidered silk jumpsuits made of silk swathes.

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Tinted and translucent, the accessories mimic the shape, form and movement of bodies of water. Transparent acrylic wavy bracelets, waterdrop-shaped statement earrings, bulky belts, cascading beads and looped cord necklaces resemble different water elements in the familiar hushed watercolour hues as the clothes. While we also see the number 11 peek through here and there to echo the special location of the show, the courtyard of the designer’s 11 via Borgonuovo property in Milan.

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Giorgio Armani

armani.com

Chater House, Central
Canton Road, Tsim Sha Tsui
Elements, Tsim Sha Tsui
K11 MUSEA, Tsim Sha Tsui

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This season shows that designers are still wild at heart when it comes to spring/summer. Embracing psychedelic florals and stretchy earth tones, the new season looks are nothing short of maximum impact.

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Photography Issac Lam

Hair Winky Wong

Make-up Jenny Shih 

Photography Assistant Ivan Chan, Shawn Cheung & Sinyi Lau

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Bottega Veneta

Street style for spring/summer 2020 was awash with Daniel Lee’s square-toe sandals, either intrecciato woven leather mules or strappy sandals that had influencers and editors risking frostbite. In Lee’s second showing for the Italian leather house, the accessories were once again instant hits, with a supersized intrecciato hobo bag taking centre stage. In terms of ready-to-wear, Lee built on his first Bottega Veneta collection, in which he’d delivered strong looks with sharp lines. This collection saw lighter pieces with softened lines, but the clingy ribbed dresses were there, as were the sportier pieces with interesting twists. Leather was given lighter treatment this time round and could be found in the trenches, anoraks and Bermuda shorts.

Chanel

The parade across Rue Cambon’s zinc-lined rooftops hailed Virginie Viard’s new direction for the House of Chanel. Although grounded in the French maison’s heritage, Viard’s tweed rompers, short hems and all manner of leggy playsuits evoked the Nouvelle Vague. Unlike Lagerfeld’s larger-than-life Chanel girl, Viard’s woman was liberated in contemporary T-shirts, jeans and Breton stripes, which joined tiered skirts and layers of tweed on the runway. Of course, this was the occasion when a comedienne jumped into a line of marching models – security didn’t like it and Gigi Hadid kindly helped direct her off the runway – but audiences came away with a show to remember.

Dior

Sustainability is big in fashion, but is it sustainable? At Dior, the answer is a supersized yes. This season Maria Grazia Chiuri worked with Paris-based environmental design collective Coloco to create the arboreal set that became Dior’s catwalk, comprising trees that would later be planted around Paris. If that weren’t enough, Chiuri took inspiration from Christian Dior’s sister Catherine, a botanist and acclaimed gardener. The result was an earthy collection of jacquards, silks and lace interwoven with raffia and denim ombre pieces – a more sustainable savoir-faire.

Fendi

What does your garden-variety collection look like when interpreted by one of the biggest forces in luxury fashion? If it’s Fendi, think relaxed, languid and psychedelic, and with a leafy floral print made of Lycra and laced with mink the house retained its signature style. Gingham featured heavily, executed on sequin- dipped organza. Terrycloth also made its customary appearance, suggesting that wearability and practicality remain at the forefront of Silvia Fendi’s approach – and for women on the go, there wasn’t a high heel in sight.

Giorgio Armani

Delicately muted colours dominated Giorgio Armani’s collection, titled Earth, although only a handful of looks featured the brown of the soil. The rest were in dreamy palettes of soft greige and pale blues and pinks that pointed to the hues of minerals and vegetation. Tropical-leaf prints grounded the collection in its theme, while organza billowed and furled in a sort of wilderness to convey the uncontrollability of nature’s creations.

Gucci

For his fifth anniversary at the House go Gucci, Alessandro Michele knew it was time for change. The provocateur, who charged into the fashion scene with his maximalist approach to granny chic, staged his first collection of the new decade in a red-lit room, which then flashed white light against moving walkways as 21 models in straitjackets emerged from behind corrugated metal gates – and that wasn’t the full collection but rather an amuse-bouche. Michele is clearly breaking out from the mould he’d created for himself. His first look was a sheer top with a black skirt – something of a first for the designer whose motto was to use all the colours – and when colour does appear its presence is blocked and graphic. Print is used sparingly, and mostly in the form of the GG logo he’s resurrected from the archives. There were also nods in the pant and skirt suits to the brand’s leaner silhouettes from the ’70s and Tom Ford’s influence in the ’90s. Where there were once layers upon layers of jacquards and tweeds, lightness became the focus. Fabrics are sheerer, slip dresses contained lace inserts and skirts, and sleeves became a playground of how transparent fabrics could go. Sexiness appeared by way of a strong S&M influence, with riding crops referencing not only that but also the house’s equestrian heritage.

Hermès

Representative of the artisanal trend that overtook the Paris runways, the Hermès collection was replete with tunics, gladiator sandals, and aprons. Inspired partly by the aprons worn in the Hermès atelier, Nadège Vanhee-Cybulski gave the humble piece a graphic makeover that was carried through in coats, dresses and shell tops. Having successfully delivered on heritage, she also merged modernity seamlessly into her collection through a series of coats and suits that demonstrate the finesse of craftsmanship that only a luxury house like Hermès can accomplish.

Shiatzy Chen

Wang Cheng Tsai-Hsia turned her hand to the underwear-as-outerwear trend, though Shiatzy Chen wouldn’t be so successful without its Chinese twist. Referencing fresh bamboo sprouts, the palette this season showed white, green, tan, red and black with breezy blouson cuts, sheer fabrics and bare legs.

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Not many 25-year-olds can open a museum and anticipate art’s global cognoscenti of dealers, collectors, gallerists, owners, digital platforms and venerable institutions to be watching every step of the way with breathless anticipation. So it is with one of China’s millennial calling-cards, the dynamic artrepreneur of style and the aesthetic, Michael Xufu Huang, and founder of Beijing’s X Museum, which opens next month.
Huang exhibits soft power on a prolific scale, and his creative ambition encapsulates both the country’s newly wealthy seeking a richer cultural life and those legions of newly influential digital hipsters whose minds are both more open and more international than their forebears, and more concerned with high class and good taste than just riches. Huang is digital marketing’s content It-boy nonpareil and he’s riding the now-and-future wave array of electronic excitation that World 2.0 has become. And a Great Wave it is.
Despite his being a mere spring chicken of a lad – and a mighty stylish one at that – this isn’t the first time Huang’s initiated such a venture. In 2014, he co-founded what’s become the much-lauded M Woods non-profit private museum in Beijing’s 798 art district with Wanwan Lei (former model for revered Chinese painter Liu Ye) and her husband Lin Han (a prolific collector) – the couple’s fame and network lends them glowing digital celebrification.

[caption id="attachment_194630" align="alignnone" width="1796"] Jacket Giorgio Armani | Top Michael's own[/caption]

The trio wanted to bring experimental and international art into China. Their collective mantra was squarely aimed at luring a younger generation of Chinese into museums so they might adopt art as a hobby and grow a lifestyle with it. And rapidly came the expectant eyes of global art’s jet-set. And yet, five years on, despite art’s percolation and greater popularisation in China, Huang is choosing to move on at what seems like the pinnacle of success. Why?
“There’s a few reasons,” he says between changes of costume during our shoot. “First, I think I’m quite disappointed with the Chinese museum scene, in terms of everyone doing Western-themed artists.” Huang doesn’t deny that such exhibitions are publicly important for art education and has actively promoted them in the past (Andy Warhol, for example) with M Woods, he just can’t reconcile how that leverages 2020 China’s influence in the global art world.

“Form the New Norm,” goes his X Museum mantra, and like millions of his millennial peers and looming Gen-Zers, he’s in a rush to expedite this century’s geo-cultural shift via scroll, in the blink of an eye and the
“Like” of a social-media post. “I just want to show that we’re not like a typical museum. Yes, we’re starting with a collection, but the whole idea is to cultivate new talent.” Huang explains that currently there’s no such mechanism in China to help nurture young artists in such a way. Thus, he plans “to help them build their career and gain them more international attention”. He pauses. “I think that’s something I cannot resist – to show people how curious we are and why it’s important that we’re here.”
Huang has been continually travelling, (he was in Bangladesh prior our meeting in Hong Kong and flying to London the following day) and claims never to have much time to read long-form art-world articles. “I never have any time. I’m a workaholic,” he says. Little wonder given his remit. For X, he’s overseeing programming, development, promotion and more. “It’s like my baby,” he jokes. “I do everything for it.”
X Museum is a two-storey building in the city’s Chaoyang District orchestrated by Beijing-based Korean architect and designer Howard Jiho Kim, who oversees the studio TEMP. Huang’s opening exhibition How Do We Begin? , which forms the first part in a triennial, consists of 33 artists who espouse the millennial zeitgeist, and is curated by London Royal College of Art graduate Poppy Dongxu Wu (@poppydxwu). “This is her first exhibition in China,” says Huang, almost matter-of-factly, “and she’s doing a really good job. She’s from an architecture background too which is good for our multidisciplinary viewpoint.”
As counterbalance, Huang has assembled a glittering jury who will award a cash prize, consisting of Hans Ulrich Obrist (Serpentine Galleries, who says that Huang’s “immense curiosity” never ceases to amaze him), Kate Fowle (director of MoMA PS1), Zhang Zikang (Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing), and Diana Campbell Betancourt (Samdani Art Foundation). Looking ahead he also foresees digital projects. “I’d like to do curatorial projects online because the physical space can only allow you to do so much – like one or two shows at a time. There are also so many good curators I want to work with in China.”

[caption id="attachment_194631" align="alignnone" width="1789"] Outfit Hermès[/caption]

While Huang grew up and schooled in London and went to the Tate Modern every weekend to learn more about getting into the profession, his art epiphany came in the less likely art milieu of one of the Tate’s satellites. Holidaying – in fact he says he was camping – with friends in the seaside village of St Ives, southwest England in 2012, Huang discovered the Tate St Ives showing American artist Alex Katz’s seascapes and beach scenes and went to take a look. “What got me hooked is when I went to Tate St Ives, and Alex Katz, everything clicked in my heart. This was like a revelation, and you feel it’s a part of your life. It made me extremely happy and meaningful.”
It’s curious that Huang succumbed to the leisure and recreation of Katz’s work, the American’s high-intensity art paintings being defined as they are by an economy of line and indulgence of style, along with their cool but seductive emotional detachment. That could be a description of Huang. Influenced as much by style, fashion and music as by art history, yet still classical at heart despite the “now-y” vibe. Katz’s sassy show, appropriately enough, was called Give Me Tomorrow.
Poet, writer and University of Pennsylvania professor Kenneth Goldsmith taught the undergraduate Huang, who sat in on a grad seminar he was teaching in the art department, which Goldsmith describes as a “free-form discussion group about issues of the day”, and Huang also took a class Goldsmith taught about fashion theory and creative writing. The Ivy League professor recalls Huang’s unusual “X” factor. “He was perhaps the most unique student I’ve had in the 15 years of teaching,” he recalls. “He would saunter into class wearing furs and designer sunglasses, hanging on every word I said, taking in every bit of information about art, literature and music I had to offer. He was very quiet but very engaged. He cast a spell on myself and all of the other students, who at first were a bit perplexed but in time came around to adore him.”
How does the X man see himself? “A paradox,” he says, managing to reference an “X”. Personality-wise, I’m quite aloof in some ways. I like to have a lot of ‘me time’ when I can. I don’t like to socialise or be too public. But nowadays if you want to do anything you have to be present, so it’s like a paradox. You want to be real, but there’s that sense that your platform or social media is just curated or performed. It’s not the real you. And then you have to say what’s politically correct; there’s what you believe in, or what you have to believe in.”

[caption id="attachment_194635" align="alignnone" width="1783"] Outfit Dior Homme[/caption]

In retrospect, Huang, despite his “cool for Katz” epiphany in St Ives, England, thought the London galleries too inaccessible and “too posh” in their ways at the time he was growing up. “London galleries are more distant if you’re young. It’s easier to access art spaces in New York, and that brought me into the community, and I became more involved. It created a sense of belonging and that definitely helped.”
Goldsmith recalls a conversation he had about what Huang might do after graduating. “I do remember one time talking to him when he was considering going into tech after school. I told him that although he’d undoubtedly make a lot of money, the art world would be a lesser place should he not pursue it. We’re all glad to he took my advice!”
Despite the classicism, Huang, like many who’ve grown up in his generation, follows what’s called “Post-Internet” Art. “I’m very interested in Post-Internet Art. And I want such artists to come to China – there’s such a lot of material people can use in China, and post-internet art in a China context.” How does he define such Post-Internet Art? “It’s art dealing with tech, digital, industrial materials; for our generation it’s something we grew up with.”
How does he assess the legacy of contemporary Chinese artist Cao Fei, whose first major solo exhibition Blueprints is showing at London’s Serpentine Galleries until May 17. “For me, she’s not really my generation, but she has set a tone for Chinese art. She’s probably the first who represented China globally and challenged everyone’s perception. I think the new generation in China are now very international.”
Which in Huang’s generation means a huge number of people that have studied abroad and have a global vision. And even those who didn’t. “Everyone is pretty educated now, the education system is good, English is very good, everyone is curious. Like film, and music, or even #Metoo,
people see that and its global effect. And with that, Chinese institutions can have influence globally now.”

[caption id="attachment_194637" align="alignnone" width="1787"] Outfit Brunello Cucinelli[/caption]

So far Huang’s X Museum is generating all the right noises. “I think we’re already generating a lot of fuss, and on digital and social media, people are excited about it, people are talking. It’s also word of mouth; we bring out the community of real talent and of course they have their own communities. I think it’s just a matter of time. We also have fashion people, brands I want to collaborate with, and sponsors.”
“You know our slogan is ‘form the new norm’, and I think we’re doing that and I always see the art world as a challenge, I don’t follow all the institutions, I do what I think I should do, and what I think is correct. You must believe what you believe in and there are so many paradoxes along the way. We want a new generation of art lovers and supporters and people who influence society. So I’m very grateful they are on this journey with me, and to have this power in China. After all, why do expensive shows that don’t give us any benefit. I don’t believe in that.”
What will be his own definition of success? “When I can retire without worry,” he says. “When the programme and the institutions are good enough and the team is running itself. That’s my dream of success.” And then he gets objective about his situation. “But, if there’s another young person, then I too would question how legit they are, how serious, as anything new takes time to get used to. At least people are used to me already and aren’t surprised when I call up with something like this. And the result has been phenomenal”
I ask if there’s anything he hasn’t shared he’d like to convey before he saunters off to ride and drive the wave of his ambition. “It’s mainly about taking our power back and the new generation doing something interesting with our own content. I think that’s the key.”
And President Xi? “We would really like him to come, and I hope that when we do well he would want to come.” From X to X, the geo-cultural future starts here.

Photography Ricky Lo 

Art Direction Sepfry Ng 

Styling Zaneta Cheng 

Hair and Makeup Kidd Sun 

Photography Assistants Jason Li and Kelvin Sim

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Fashion collections ring in the Lunar New Year with saturated tones and ornate jacquards.

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Photography LeungMo

Styling Zaneta Cheng 

Hair Heitai Cheung 

Makeup Chichi Li

Photography Assistant Him

Model Guan at Sing Models

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Introduced back in 1995, la Prima which means ‘The First’ in Italian was modelled after a tailored jacket. This time around, Giorgio Armani has given the bag a modern update. The new silhouettes see the classic iteration with an adjustable shoulder strap making the bag a shoulder bag or crossbody bag. On the inside, there are three pockets, a mirror holder, and a lipstick case. Giorgio created the bag which fuses functionality and feminity- a bag suited for the modern-day woman living in a metropolis city, that can transition from day to night, seamlessly. la Prima bags are crafted in a soft vegetable calf, in natural hues and soft palmellato calfskin, arriving in a bevy of colours: white, ice, nude, leather, burgundy, dark brown, black, grass and military green, red and powder blue. For more of an evening aesthetic, there are patent crocodile and lizard options to choose from as well. The Giorgio Armani 'la Prima' bag starts from HK$12,500-HK$13,500 is available now through Giorgio Armani boutiques at Chater House, Harbour City, Element, and  K11 MUSEA. 

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Whatever the style of your tribe, these party looks will make for a visually arresting entrance.

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Whatever the style of your tribe, these party looks will make for a visually arresting entrance.

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