In 1982, in the print edition of this magazine, Giorgio Armani spoke about his relationship with leather. Today, less than a year after his passing, the brand launches Armani/Archivio. Thirteen looks that retrace 15 years of history, from 1979 to 1994, and which demonstrate what the designer explained in that interview
by Domenico Casoria
In 1982, in the print edition of Lineapelle Magazine, Giorgio Armani himself spoke to us about his relationship with leather. A ‘resilient and bold’ material capable of combining elegance and movement. Today, less than a year after the designer’s passing, the brand has launched Armani/Archivio. Thirteen looks that retrace fifteen years of history, from 1979 to 1994, to show us what Armani, even back then, called his second skin.
His second skin
Reviving an archive means getting back to the shapes that built its identity. A direct, almost physical gesture, not just in intention. Armani/Archivio draws on that very same energy. The thirteen looks span the years in which the brand defined its own vocabulary. Each garment brings to light a detail, a line, an intuition that marked an era and which today finds a new intensity. The two lambskin jackets offer the most immediate entry point to this journey. This men’s jacket from the Spring-Summer 1979 collection, inspired by 1930s American cinema, introduced a surprising lightness for the period, with leather treated like fabric and a structure that moves with the wearer.
The women’s jacket, on the other hand, from the Autumn-Winter 1981 collection (photographed by Aldo Fallai), carried with it a broader imagery, built through oriental influences filtered through a more minimalist lens. Inspired by “Kagemusha – L’ombra del guerriero (The Shadow Warrior)”, a film by Japanese director Akira Kurosawa, the collection transported customers to alternative universes. It was one of those collections that hadn’t sold very well at the time, as Armani himself revealed a few years ago, but which, in a sense, had shown an alternative side to his aesthetic. That is why bringing those stories back to life today means recounting that connection from which a precise idea of style was born, made up of materials that hugged the body and proportions that breathed. A vision that continues to evolve, as if those garments still had an inner rhythm.
The capsule
The new capsule collection was accompanied by a photographic campaign by the stylist Eli Russell Linnetz, who approached the archives with an outsider’s perspective. He captured the garments as if they were living objects. Images that convey a contemporary presence are capable of engaging with the viewer. All this, as the aesthetics of the 1980s and 1990s have returned to the scene, and the hunt for vintage Armani has skyrocketed.
And so we cannot help but recall Armani’s words on leather, when, back in the 1980s, he told us of the leather boom triggered by the break with the formalism that began in the 1960s and became established in the 1970s. That break had led to a gradual shift in wardrobe essentials: fewer overcoats and more jackets. In that interview, Armani spoke of leather as a ‘resilient and gritty’ material, strong and modern, capable of combining practicality and elegance. He did not regard it as a mere symbol of luxury.
He saw it as a material for everyday use, close to real life, ready to replace stiffer and less functional fabrics. Further removed from the realm of the uniform, closer to the personal sphere. Within Armani/Archivio, this idea becomes clear once more. The leather garments do not function as relics of the past, but as proof of that vision: jackets that follow the body’s contours, volumes that do not overwhelm the figure, a physicality that remains tangible. In the words of that time, there was already a clear principle: leather has a future as long as those who produce it, those who work with it and those who wear it remain on the same page.
“What does leather mean to you?”
Giorgio Armani: “Leather, for me, is a second skin. It is the essential piece, the one you wear every day. The foundation upon which everything else is built.” The origin, in short.
Photo: Armani/Archive
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