Giorgio Armani’s Couture Present In the course of the Venice Movie Fest Attracts Sophia Loren, Kerry Washington and Jessica Chastain

A spotlight of the primary weekend of the eightieth Venice Worldwide Movie Competition was seeing Giorgio Armani seem on the catwalk, visibly excited, moved, smiling and proudly glad together with his work. He then superior sleek and comfortable, in his impeccable blue tuxedo holding arms with the mannequin Agnese Zogla.

The second was skilled by the greater than 500 friends at Armani’s One Evening Solely occasion, the place the world of cinema flocked to pay homage to King Giorgio, with friends together with Sophia Loren, who has all the time been his beloved buddy, accompanied by her son Edoardo Ponti, actor Benicio Del Toro, actress Jessica Chastain, and administrators Ang Lee, Gabriele Salvatores and Giuseppe Tornatore.

The standing ovation lasted a number of minutes from an viewers composed of quite a few {couples} from the Italian movie star system: from Sergio Castellitto and Margaret Mazzantini and Pierfrancesco Favino and Anna Ferzetti to Raul Bova and Rocio Munoz Morales to Kasia Smutniak and Domenico Procacci. Different stars and administrators noticed within the crowd have been Kerry Washington, Lucas Bravo, Lukas Gage, Sydney Sweeney, Sadie Sink, Louis Garrel, Regé-Jean Web page, Shu Qi, Ava DuVernay, Luca Guadagnino and Ferzan Ozpetek. The evening proved that trend and cinema, assembly within the metropolis of the competition, can generate a night of absolute surprise, even when just for one evening, because the signal on the entrance learn, “Welcoming friends from throughout.”

Sixty-five fashions walked the catwalk contained in the Arsenale, the restored outdated advanced of shipyards and workshops close to the venues of the Venice Biennale. Within the evocative setting of the Tese delle Nappe occasion venue, Giorgio Armani, 89 years younger, introduced a reinterpretation of Armani Privé’s final Paris trend present, which had a harlequin theme. The runway additionally featured the addition of some valuable Venice-inspired robes, a tribute to the lagoon metropolis a lot cherished by the designer from Piacenza. Parading down the catwalk beneath the historic columns and arches have been lengthy night robes in varied shades of coloration, from blue, inexperienced and turquoise to black, lined with crystals or with ruffs with geometric motifs to recall the world’s most well-known masks in a shocking show of one-of-a-kind craftsmanship.

As singer-songwriter Kelsea Ballerini, one of many evening’s friends, informed THR, “The second of the evening was watching Mr. Armani himself take his lap across the runway taking a shower with reward and respect — goosebumps,” including that “the items have been beautiful.”

Till now Armani’s “One Evening Solely” occasion had touched seven metropolises: London in 2006, Tokyo in 2007, Beijing in 2012, Rome and New York in 2013, Paris in 2014 and Dubai in 2021, this yr it was Venice’s flip. What higher time than in the course of the Venice Movie Competition, the place Armani Magnificence is a fundamental sponsor? And who extra applicable than Armani, whose ardour born was as a boy, then cultivated and meticulously consolidated over time by dressing celebrities on the world’s most prestigious pink carpets and designing the costumes for movies which have change into iconic, amongst them American Gigolo. And who else can boast of a documentary devoted to him, Made in Milan, by Martin Scorsese, which premiered on the fest again in 1990?

Venice additionally wished to honor him the day earlier than the present by awarding him the Golden Lion in Murano glass acquired from the arms of the town’s mayor Luigi Brugnaro, who mentioned, “I wished to acknowledge the person, his dedication and his nice ardour for magnificence, which he has been in a position to rework right into a profitable enterprise, the image of Made in Italy on this planet.”

“I used to be very touched by the town’s gesture. The statue was not gold, however I used to be nonetheless fairly comfortable,” joked Armani, in a touching pre-show lecture in Italian. “From my first go to, I used to be thunderstruck by Venice and all its colours. It’s a dreamy paradise … with a decadent ambiance. But it conveys a sure sense of distinctive class,” mentioned the designer, who celebrated the event with a brilliant social gathering on Sept. 1 a yacht moored in Riva San Biasio.