Daily Front Row

2008 July 1

Armani Privé - Paris Couture Fall 2008

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Armani Prive Fall 2008
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(PARIS) "Whenever anyone says I'm well-dressed, I'm almost always wearing Armani," confessed Helen Mirren at yesterday's Armani Privé show. For fall/winter 2009, the beloved designer presented 52 looks that glamourized and glitterized his classic themes--menswear, pantsuits, exquisitely shaped jackets, decadent fabrications and to-be-reckoned-with accessories. A black silk overcoat, rife with horizontal patterns, was merely the first of many looks to elicit a spontaneous round of applause from the well-heeled (and deep-pocketed) devotees fanning themselves at the Palais de Chaillot. Glass-embroidered frocks were almost blindingly shimmering, thanks in no small part to the ten men perched in the rafters, each wielding his own all-powerful spotlight. A series of perilously narrow mermaid gowns in silk chiffon, jet-encrusted organza and georgette creponne and lamé panné velvet had a trio of actresses--Mirren, Kerry Washington, who came as a guest of Roberta Armani, and Charlotte Gainsbourg--calling dibs. "He was one of the first designers to understand the symbiotic relationship between the art form of filmmaking and the art form of fashion," Mirren continued. But perhaps Gainsbourg expressed that relentless Armani allure most succinctly while embracing the designer after the show. "Amazing, amazing," she whispered."I really loved it all!"