Appreciating Armani 魅力无限亚曼尼
Fashion followers fortunate enough to be in Spain between March and August this year will surely not want to pass up an exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum in the northern city of Bilbao. Its subject is the work of a talismanic designer whose enormous appeal took a clothing label to unprecedented heights in brand-name recognition.
The exhibition, called simply "Giorgio Armani," covers the designer's twenty-five-year development and contribution to fashion and culture. Clothes from different stages of Armani's career are displayed in a loose narrative arrangement, and many of the designs feature his trademark color, the mixture of grey and beige that came to be known as "Armani greige."
Also on display are the romantic traditions of European fashion and selections demonstrating influences and fabrics from regions as diverse as China, India, and Polynesia. There is even a section containing movie costumes and outfits worn at the Oscars and other ceremonial occasions, illustrating the glamour and cultural status of the Armani brand. The garments are complemented by a selection of photographs and sketches.
The exhibition's appearance in Bilbao follows on the heels of an earlier successful stint at the New York Guggenheim, where there was some minor criticism among the acclaim. Art purists castigated the Museum for promoting commercial concerns, while others, who feel Armani's best days are behind him, pointed out that a museum is where his designs belong.
There is a strong popular association between the words "Armani suit" and the attainment of, or at least the quest for, material success.
It is a fashion item whose designer possesses an extraordinary ability to create a harmonious blend of seemingly contradictory elements: traditional and modern, East and West, casual and elegant.
Giorgio Armani was born near Milan, Italy, in 1934. His earliest foray into the fashion world was helping introduce Italian consumers to foreign styles when he worked as a purchaser for a leading Milanese department store. With no formal training behind him, he brought out his first line in 1964 while working for Nino Cerutti, one of the top men's fashion houses. He later left to start his own firm, and his clothes began appearing under the Armani label in 1975.
The Armani line was at first noted for loose, smart-casual blazers that provided a refreshing alternative to both the stiff, formal suits and the sloppy, laid-back hippie style of the previous decade. Though they were aimed at men, Armani's fashions proved so popular among women that he soon began designing for them as well.
The famous suits caught the mood of the power dressers of the prosperous 1980s, and a string of movie appearances by his designs, beginning with the wardrobe of Richard Gere in American Gigolo, enhanced his reputation to the point where he is now considered one of the undisputed icons of twentieth-century style.
流行时尚的拥护者们如果有幸能在今年三月至八月前往西班牙，一定不想错过在北方城市毕尔巴鄂、古根海姆博物馆举办的展览。展览的主题是一位设计奇才的作品，其无穷的魅力使一个服装品牌打进名牌殿堂，到达前所未见的巅峰。
这个展览简称“乔治亚曼尼”，它涵括了这名设计师二十五年来的发展和对流行文化的贡献。亚曼尼在不同阶段设计的服饰，分别不规则地呈现在各个主题区。他众多的设计均能明显地展示他的品牌色彩： 将灰色及米黄色调配而成的“亚曼尼米灰色”。
这场展览同时展出的，有他沿用欧陆传统浪漫风味的作品，以及深受中国、印度、波里尼西亚等地域影响，用当地纺织原料所精心制作的服装,甚至还有一个区域专门展示他设计的电影服装，以及专为奥斯卡颁奖典礼或其他隆重场合的出席嘉宾设计的服饰，这些都验证了亚曼尼品牌的迷人魅力与文化上的地位。服饰旁边还有精选的照片及设计草图。
之所以能在毕尔巴鄂举行这项展览，要归功于稍前在纽约古根海姆美术馆的成功展出。在纽约一片喝采声中，只有为数很少的批评之声。艺术纯粹主义者斥责美术馆是在替商业行为做宣传，但是也有人认为亚曼尼日后必定会取得非凡的成就，他的作品应该陈列在博物馆里。
提到“亚曼尼西服”，不得不令人联想到他在服装界的卓越成就，和对成功的追求。这句流行辞汇源于一位拥有超凡能力的设计师，他能把乍看之下相互矛盾的元素充分调和：传统与现代，东方与西方，通俗与高雅。
乔治亚曼尼1934年出生于意大利米兰。他首次接触时尚界，是为米兰一家著名的百货公司当销售员，向顾客介绍异国的服装风格。之前从未受过任何专业训练的亚曼尼，在1964年为一家顶尖的男士时装品牌“尼诺塞洛提”工作时，画下了他设计生涯的处女作。后来他离职自己组建公司，他所设计的服饰，于1975年正式以“亚曼尼”之名问世。
亚曼尼的设计最初以轻松、时髦又随意的上衣而著称，它开创了一种新颖的风格，摆脱了之前十年一直风行的两种样式：正式却死板的西装和过于随便的嬉皮风格。虽然起初亚曼尼的时装是专为男性设计的，结果发现它们也受到女性欢迎，于是不久后他也开始为女性设计。
这些出名的服饰到了繁荣的八十年代,开始引起了权威服装造型师的兴趣，从设计李察基尔在“美国舞男”里的全部戏服开始，亚曼尼设计的服装在一部又一部的电影中登场，他也因此更加声名大噪。现在他已成为举世公认、开创二十世纪风格的代表人物之一。
