Armani Privé FALL 2024 COUTURE

Serene in their beauty, pearls are associated with the moon, water, wisdom, purity and love.

This is true for many diverse cultures throughout history.

Sensing a widespread need for serenity and constantly seeking a calm and intimate quality, Giorgio Armani builds his entire collection and accompanying narrative with pearls this season.

Armani employed many kinds of embellishments and embroideries, not just pearls, but he stuck to a palette of black and white and lustrous metallics. One of the stars of the show was the very simplest: a strapless dress whose stand-away square bodice was entirely encrusted in crystals and beads, bias cut velvet falling from the waist to the floor.

In its emphasis on a single long, narrow silhouette, it was a volte face from last season’s more exuberant turn. But it was an entirely welcome one—Armani at his Armani-est, serving up the soigné evening elegance that has made him a Hollywood favorite for as many decades as he’s been in business.

Here and there the jewelry and the headwear distracted from the overall look, and it was a wee bit long at 89 exits, 90 if you count his bow, with two models in mesh pearl dresses on either side of him. Though he’s not one for celebrating such milestones, that number seemed intentional. Armani is on the precipice of 90—his birthday is July 11—but he still knows how to cut a ravishing dress, and to top it off: a black velvet double-breasted ankle-length coat with pearls and crystals dotting it like constellations in the night sky.