You don’t have to be able to afford Armani to dress Armani-ish – the look the late designer invented is all over the high street
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aying your respects is always the right thing to do. This autumn it is also the chicest. At Milan fashion week in September, Giorgio Armani was on everyone’s mind. His fingerprints have been all over that city’s style and psyche for decades, but with the fashion industry gathered in his home town to see the last collection he designed before his death, his spirit was more pervasive than ever.
In other words: the king is dead, long live the slouchy suit. People all over the world have been thinking about Armani, and seeing images of his clothes – on catwalks, on film, on the red carpet – has reminded us how elegant, timeless and universally flattering the soft tailoring he pioneered was, and still is.
If you’re feeling flush, now would be a lovely moment to buy yourself some actual Armani, and I’m confident it is a purchase you won’t regret. But the brilliance of Armani is that his impact on fashion has been so visceral that you can buy the look he invented all over the high street. You don’t have to be able to afford Armani to dress Armani-ish. And the look is perhaps more widely available right now than at any time since the 1980s, not just because of his death but because the style compass has nudged away from skinnies and towards looser trousers and jeans.
