Giorgio Armani casts a long shadow. His fashion legacy not only changed the way a generation of women dressed, suitably suiting a wave of post-Feminist women entering the workplace in the late seventies and early eighties in clothing that evoked their newly-achieved power and equality, but the way those women related to their clothes. This year, his fortieth in business, Armani opened his Silos, a museum packed with his creations that help illustrate how he has influenced – and continues to influence - the way women look today.
That influence includes not only what goes on women’s backs, but what goes on their faces too. Another anniversary this year was that of Giorgio Armani Beauty, which celebrates a youthful fifteen years in the cosmetics and skincare game. Armani’s beauty approach has always been to bring a sense of fashion to this face – this year, they launched their Runway collection, based directly on the fabrics from Giorgio Armani’s spring/summer 2015 show and truncating the normal multiple-year beauty business development time into mere months. To force the immediacy of the product, they embedded a fragment of silk jacquard – in Armani’s favourite sandy taupe – into the top of the compacts, and stitched them into a bag to cosset lipsticks like an Armani gown wraps the bodies of his very many, very moneyed clients.
Giorgio Armani Beauty's fabric-inspired foundations
The influence of Armani fashion is, however, evident across his cosmetics, in the formulas themselves, not just their packaging. Take, for instance, the names of his ranges – “Luminous Silk” is one, another is called “Face Fabric”. So we challenged make-up artist Polly Osmond to create a series of faces inspired by the different fabrics that Giorgio Armani Beauty have drawn inspiration from – chiffon, velvet, organza, satin and silk. The overriding theme? The quiet power of the neutral, and a focus on flawless, luminescent skin.
To underline the power of the Giorgio Armani look and Signor Armani’s still-developing legacy, we dressed her body in a new generation of designers who are devotees of his subtle but persuasive less-is-more approach, in a palette of new season neutrals.
Styling by Emma Akbareian
Photographs by Arved Colvin-Smith
Makeup by Polly Osmond using Giorgio Armani Beauty
Hair by David Wad low at Premier
Nails by Sabrina Gayle at LMC
Model: Stephanie Hall at Models 1
Lighting assistant: Marsy Hild
Digital assistant: George Zenko
