




Players in Italy’s national soccer team will now wear Emporio Armani off-field uniforms, the fashion house says in a news release. Giorgio Chiellini, Lorenzo Pellegrini, Jorginho, Lorenzo Insigne and their teammates will wear an Emporio Armani suit, shirt and overcoat, as well as shoes, kit bag, belt, sunglasses and small leather goods designed by the brand.
“This agreement makes me particularly happy: I am returning to football after my experience with Chelsea and Bayern, and once again I am dressing the Italian national team, as I did for the 1994 World Cup,” Armani says. “I am proud to... offer our athletes my idea of soft formality and elegant practicality. I have created a wardrobe that is consistent with my vision, designed for athletes who are constantly on the move. It is another way to communicate Italy’s sense of style to the world,” explains Giorgio Armani.
The Giorgio Armani fashion house has always enjoyed a close relationship with the world of sport, soccer especially. As well as partnering with some of Europe’s biggest clubs — such as Chelsea FC — to design uniforms, the brand has also picked sports personalities as ambassadors to front its various clothing lines. They include Cristiano Ronaldo, Rafael Nadal and David Beckham.
The Italian men’s national team will not be the only ones wearing Giorgio Armani. The country’s women’s national team and under-21 team will also be getting off-field uniforms designed by the luxury label.
Dior to redefine 21st-century tailoring
British-born designer Kim Jones drew inspiration from the French capital’s heroic statuary to suggest that there was no better armour for the modern man than well-cut clothes.
His spectacular show in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower had models standing still like statues on a moving conveyor belt catwalk. The mesmerising effect made it look as if they were gliding or skateboarding to a techno disco beat.
Jones, in only his second Paris show for the mythic French label since leaving Louis Vuitton, sent out a sleek, dark-hued riposte to the oversized trend that has dominated men’s fashion for several seasons.
Big on blacks, greys and burnished silky browns, his suits and trousers were cut close to the body, with some given added panache with long scarves worn like the sashes so beloved of 17th-century cavaliers.
Stylised utility vests worn over suits like bulletproof jackets gave some of his models the air of postmodern hussars.
“For me, the suit and the tailored jacket are the key things that say Dior,” Jones tells AFP. “It is elegance, tailoring and couture. We have made the black suits cooler and a bit more fashion with new boots... and the scarves are inspired by a dress by Christian Dior [the label’s founder] from 1952,” he says.
