Once Again, Nighttime Is Right Time for an Armani

Having all but ignored eveningwear in the past, Giorgio Armani’s fall ’90 collection features a number of sequined and beaded outfits. The collection was shown last Thursday night at the designer’s Rodeo Drive boutique . Armani did not attend but wrote about his new interest exclusively for The Times: For several seasons now, I’ve had a heightened interest in designing for the evening. Everyone needs a relief after their day, to change their mood one direction or the other. But it is my belief that both looks should be connected, defined through simplicity, sophistication and inventiveness without arrogance.

I find the evening collection a particular challenge today because the modern woman has many demands. For instance, she now requires a gown to be comfortable, to allow her to sit and move with grace and ease. That women must subject themselves to fashion straitjackets in order to make grand entrances is a thing of the past.

I like simple, serene designs for night, and find they can be the most theatrical of them all.

But I also enjoy working with unusual beading and embroidery, using them almost as jeweled accessories rather than fabrics. I also like the throwaway chic and surprise of taking a very basic shape, like a tank top or halter, and redefining it for night. It removes the pretense of grand eveningwear and gives a woman a young, optimistic air.

I am very open to mixing fabrics once regarded as belonging to either day or night. Chiffon, for example, was used extensively for my daytime skirts of last spring-summer. I like the sensual way it drapes the female form. Also, satin is an interesting fabric detail in daywear.

Using day shapes for night is a very modern approach. I’ll do a bomber jacket in silk and beading. The finale for the current fall collection was a jacket and box-pleat trousers in the most spectacular beading. It all works toward the belief that women should be able to dress as easily for the night as they now can for the day. I get a kick out of playfully mocking the kind of social stratification that eveningwear usually brings. And, like a man, a modern woman can now have a classic day-for-night look that transcends the hands of the clock.