Giorgio Armani Headed to Tokyo With Show, Armani/Ginza Tower Reopening
Signaling his admiration for the Japanese culture, Giorgio Armani is headed to Tokyo on May 24.
In the Japanese metropolis, the designer will host his first runway show for a pre-collection parading the Giorgio Armani men’s and women’s resort 2020 lineups. The location for the show has yet to be disclosed.
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The show will be held in conjunction with the celebrations, that same night, for the reopening of the Armani/Ginza Tower in the city’s tony shopping district.
“I am glad to be returning to Tokyo for the reopening of Ginza Tower after its refurbishment: a major project that underscores my bond with Japan, a country whose aesthetics and culture I have always admired,” Armani said.
Nodding to the Japanese culture, the Italian designer, for instance, pierced the runway of his spring 2015 Privé haute couture show in Paris with bamboo-shaped transparent stalks and featured prints, embroideries and appliqués of the plant’s stems and leaves on the garments; gold brush strokes inspired by Japanese calligraphy decorated men’s jackets, knits and outerwear in the Emporio Armani men’s fall 2015 collection.
First unveiled in 2007, the Armani/Ginza Tower — covering about 65,000 square feet over 12 floors and two basement levels — featured the Giorgio Armani, Emporio Armani and Casa collections, along with the brand’s then-first spa, an Italian restaurant and a Privé bar. The revamped location will open to the public on March 21.
Armani last visited Tokyo in 2007 as part of his itinerant “One Night Only” series of events, parading his spring 2008 Giorgio and Emporio Armani collections. Last year, the format was slated to take place in Shanghai on May 25, but was postponed for technical and logistic reasons. The designer took the series also through London, Beijing, Rome, New York and Paris over the years.
The Japanese capital was selected last year by Valentino to stage its runway show combining for the first time its men’s and women’s pre-fall collections, and also a few days later by Dior Men, which showcased its first men’s pre-fall runway show with a collection designed by Kim Jones. In 2017 Louis Vuitton headed to Japan for its cruise 2018 lineup, holding a show in Kyoto.
Armani’s announcement follows that of Gucci, which will hold its resort show on May 28 at the Capitoline Museums in Rome and Dior, which will stage its resort show this year in Marrakech on April 29. Chanel is set to show its cruise collection at the Grand Palais in Paris on May 3, while Prada will present resort in New York on May 2, with Louis Vuitton to follow on May 8. Alberta Ferretti will showcase her resort collection at the Musée Océanographique in Monaco on May 18 while Max Mara will show its 2020 resort collection in Berlin on June 3.
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