Emporio Armani off to show in London

By

Godfrey Deeny

Published
Apr 4, 2017

Emporio Armani is on the move again. The designer will show the spring 2018 collection of his youthful diffusion collection in London this fall, in a significant boost for the UK season.
 

The move marks the latest time that designer Giorgio Armani has shown outside Milan in recent years. Last September, Armani decided to "exceptionally" staged a spring 2017 fashion show in Paris, timed to coincide with the re-furbishing of the brand's boutique and Café on Boulevard St Germain.
 
The Milan-based designer will stage the Emporio Armani women's show on Sunday, September 17. The London season runs from Sept. 15 to 19, before the fashion pack moves on to Italy, and the Milan runway shows.

Back in 2006, Armani skipped out of London to show Emporio's spring 2007 collection in a mega One Night Only event with performances by Beyonce, Bryan Ferry and 50 Cents to celebrate the launch of Emporio Armani Product Red line, a portion of whose profits went to the Global Fund to Fights AIDS in Africa. A project founded by rock star Bono and Bobby Shriver.
 
Armani also attempted to stage an Emporio show in Paris in 1998, before local police abruptly cancelled, allegedly for "security reasons." At the time, many people thought the shut down was caused by local resident politicians upset that Armani's tent installation had taken over historic Place Saint-Sulpice, with juggernaut trucks coming and going 24 hours. Others saw it as an example of pure French chauvinism, against an Italian designer, which cost Armani and L'Oreal – his perfume licensor – over $1 million. The designer eventually moved the event to New York.

‘London – dynamic, energetic and cosmopolitan – represents global culture, so it’s the perfect setting for my Emporio Armani collection. After my One Night Only event in 2006, I’m thrilled to be returning to London to unveil the new concept at the Bond Street store, bearing witness to the brand’s strong bond with the British people,’ says Giorgio Armani.