I STILL REMEMBER WHEN
Mr Armani opened Nobu in Milan
at the turn of the millennium, right
next door to his Emporio store and
smack bang in the old centre of the
city. It was simply the chicest and
perfectly summed up Armani’s love
for the minimalism and quality of
the Far East. Stepping off the plane
in Tokyo recently for his first-ever
Cruise show, it was easy to see why
Armani has such an affinity for the
Japanese style of doing things.
Of course, I had based my idea of
Tokyo on Lost in Translation. The
opening scene in which Bill Murray
nurses a whisky in a gorgeous hotel
bar way up in the sky turned out to
be accurate: the hotels here are
mostly hidden in skyscrapers – my
bedroom at the stylish Andaz hotel
was on the 67th floor.
Other things surprised me. I was
amazed by how clean the streets were,
and while puffing on a cigarette I
wondered to myself, ‘Where do all
the cigarette butts go?’ Well, I quickly
learned that smoking on the street is
frowned on after being confronted
by two men, dressed in hazmat-like
suits, who plucked the cigarette from
my hand and put it out in a portable
ashtray while wagging their fingers at
me. Mystery solved.
The company was a little more
charming the following night, as
Armani hosted a cocktail party to
celebrate the reopening of his tower-
ing landmark, the newly renovated
store in the Ginza district. I went
along. It is a gorgeous building, theLuxury tailoring meets
classic ease: the inaugural
Armani Cruise show sets sail
By SOPHIE PERAPHOTOGRAPHS:To p G e r ei n To k y oTatler October 2019 tatler.comabsolute embodiment of the Armani
aesthetic: sleek and impressive, with
each floor decked out in different
types of onyx and Italian marble,
from green to blue and yellow.
In the made-to-measure atelier on
the top floor, I spied some snazzy
diamond tuxedos – rather un-Armani
in their glitziness, perhaps, though it
was interesting to see what different
markets go for. And what’s more fun
than a diamond tuxedo? Nothing.
On another floor, a video played
on a loop of an Eighties Giorgio
Armani working in Milan, ripping
out the linings of his suits so that
they would hang loosely. It was a
masterstroke that soon became his
trademark style. This season, I was
thrilled to see the resurrection of that
revolutionary unlined jacket at the
Cruise show.
It was held in Tokyo’s National
Museum, the city’s largest and oldest
gallery space. Its name, Hyokeikan,
means ‘congratulations’ in Japanese,
which Mr Armani told me was surely
‘a good omen’. And what a show it
was, classically Armani all the way.
There was fabulously louche, sexy
tailoring, beautiful accessories and
tortoiseshell sunglasses. Womens-
wear was ‘Lauren Hutton eat your
heart out’; menswear channelled the
dream that was Richard Gere in
American Gigolo – a divine return to
an Eighties state of mind. A gorgeous
cream linen suit for men, deftly tai-
lored to fall just so, was the perfect
mix of sporty-casual and discerning:
that magical Portofino Riviera look.
Another menswear favourite was a
butter-soft suede caramel double-
breasted blazer, paired with navy
cotton trousers, a linen collarless
shirt and a twist of a neckerchief.
Sexy and effortless – an attitude notTatler Fashion Director
Sophie Pera in TokyoLeft, the newly reopened
Armani/Ginza Tower.
Above and below,
Armani Cruise 2020Richard Gere &
Lauren Hutton
in American
Gigolo, 198010-19BYST-Cruise.indd 74 08/08/2019 14:30
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