Giorgio unveils Recycled Emporio Armani, suggests hiring Prince Harry as a model

By

Godfrey Deeny

Published
Jan 11, 2020

One day into the menswear catwalk season in Milan, on a crisp Saturday morning, Giorgio Armani unveiled his latest concept R–EA, or Recycled Emporio Armani, a capsule collection all about regeneration.

In an ebullient mood, Armani even joked about Megxit, playfully suggesting that now the younger royals were flying the Buckingham Palace coop, he was considering employing Prince Harry as a model.
 
"You know, now things have changed, I’ve been thinking that maybe we can do a custom-made ad campaign with the prince…. and that’s a scoop,"  joked Armani.

Fifteen minutes prior, on the catwalk, a squadron of models in sporty black and ecru R-EA looks climaxed the finale of his latest Emporio Armani show, staged in his custom-made show space in south Milan.
 
"It is a promotion for the whole Earth," commented the veteran designer in a post-show get-together with the Italian speaking media.
 
Made of regenerated wool and denim or organic cottons, R-EA featured hard canvas pea coats, hooded tops, padded survivor chic parkas and matelassé sweatshirts. All the cast walked in moon boots or with massive one-meter-square quilted bags. Practically every look was finished with ecru details and lettering, many items reading, "I Am Saying Yes to Recycling."
 

In one of the strongest Emporio menswear shows in several years, Giorgio concentrated on one of his signature elements – herringbone. Incorporating the zig-zag into excellent red and black shearling flight jackets, precision cut blazers, and snazzy suits. Plus, there were all sorts of spruce houndstooth check suits and coats, some finished with mini metal baguettes, "to inject a touch of modernity," noted Armani.
 
Midway through, as the soundtrack swung into the galactic funk of Robbie Akbal & Ay Sarita singing Fanaya, Armani went Space Age. Led by very cool padded nylon boleros with huge lapels, or abstract expressionist daubed puffer coats, ideal for foreign planet aristocrats.
 
Before the collection, bizarrely named "The Man in the Magnifying Glass," climaxed with the R-EA debut. And Armani's quip on the Megxit monarchical mash-up.