Armani bucks the trend and launches haute couture

Models on the catwalk at the Giorgio Armani Spring/Summer ready to wear collection in September. Pictures / Reuters

MILAN - Giorgio Armani made his name by forging a fashion for relaxed formality but now he's bucking the trend and taking on the French at the most intricate end of elegance by launching his first haute couture show in Paris.

Armani arrives on the haute couture scene just as regulars like Emanuel Ungaro and Versace pull the plug on the extremely expensive collections that take thousands of man-hours to make but have a tiny pool of clients.

The "Giorgio Armani Atelier" collection will show off-calendar to 300 guests during haute couture week in January, ensuring the Paris outsider will be the hottest ticket in town.

Only members or associates of the French fashion chamber, which sets strict rules for couture production, are allowed to show on the official calendar at the twice-yearly shows.

Paris haute couture houses have dressed princesses and pop stars for the last century but in the past year the future of high fashion has been called into question as labels slimmed down or shuttered their highly-skilled workshops.

Ungaro, Versace and Givenchy spurned costly catwalk shows for small parades around their private showrooms in January. They turned out to be the last shows for Versace and Ungaro who shut up shop to focus on ready to wear.

But Armani, whose pret-a-porter style is often questioned by the fashion press, still has the name and cache to lure the few remaining clients willing to pay upwards of 10,000 euros for a dress.

While some fashion pundits see trends turning casual, Armani's sleek suits and elegant evening gowns are already well ensconced in the wardrobes of the handful of women who will always dress up.

Haute couture is a logical step in Armani's empire building.

He had expanded his label from a two-man show to a billion-euro business which now ranges from suits to sofas to cyclamens. With haute couture, he said he was "now aiming to capture the very summit of the luxury market."

In his ready to wear show in Milan this September, Armani sent out several glamorous gowns of layered silk with intricate embroidery, thousands of appliqued flowers and sequins galore.

"It therefore seems a natural progression to expand this point of view into the Giorgio Armani Atelier collection and bring it to Paris," the 70-year-old designer said.

- REUTERS