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Caramel and Cream at Emporio Armani

If one is looking for creamy sophistication with a girly touch, then the thinking ladies' destination should be Emporio Armani, where septuagenarian Giorgio has just presented a nimble and natty series of new looks.

On a balmy Thursday, Sept. 20, morning, in the designer's custom-made "theatre" in Milan, Armani sent out a romantic and flirty vision of modern fashion, doubly emphasized by the passionate series of uber-Italian ballads to which the models slid along the shiny black catwalk.

Armani is a designer whose enormous sense of his own worth and huge global success means he exists well apart from fashion trends. Thus, in a season where 90 percent of all skirts end around the knee, Armani cut them way up the thigh, the better to emphasize the slinky silhouette that he has decreed for spring 2013.

Italy's most famous designer was also equally dismissive of the print revolution that has swept fashion, preferring a monochrome look, albeit one leavened by metallic hues - there's a industrial plant's worth of platinum - and iridescent checks of the softest palette.

"It's a pure Armani," commented the designer post show, after he had taken his bow in highly worn blue jeans. Ragged jeans? Hard to imagine on Mr. Perfectionist but true.

Though almost chamomile calm, this was a winningly smooth Armani show, from the café crème, caramel and cinnamon color palette to the surgical cutting - carefully crafted boleros, the neatest of gold tunics and sweetly rippling pants suits.

In a word, if you are looking for a fashion revolution, don't expect to knock on the reigning king's door. Armani the monarch is in the business of selling reassurance, even if with plenty of sizzle.

		* Thom Browne Spring 2014 * Delpozo Spring 2014