Armani Prive` Fall 2012 couture opened with a series of slouchy trousers paired with blouses and jackets and sent down the runway in pairs. The deliciously rich black trousers were contrasted with soft lilac and powder blue hues as well, and as the show developed a few dashes of pink were integrated. Degrade` seems to be popping up again (it did with at Dior a bit as well) and Armani chose to use the blush pinks and brighter pinks on blouses, coats and dresses to excellent effect. They seemed the more artistically mature, couture version of that Christopher Kane galaxy print that happened so many seasons ago. One of my favorite looks was a voluminous organza blouse done in a super subtle degrade` dye, paired with lilac trousers.

The trouser was really an Armani classic revisited, as were some of the jackets. The longer, one-button jacket with a slight pagoda shoulder could have gone modern but in the styling and colors they really seemed more like 80’s throwbacks, as did the model pairs. On the bright side, it did showcase more variations in color and fabric while not increasing the length of the show.

Overall, there were a lot of great piece to work into some good styling concepts but as a whole the concept didn’t look super-fresh, even for Armani. -RS (Images via Vogue.com)