IN REVIEW / EMPORIO ARMANI : This Store’s for You, Armani Fans
The Store: Emporio Armani in Beverly Hills
The Look: A splendid stainless-steel staircase unspools inside the front doors, separating the men’s and women’s departments. Inside, it’s the no-frills, blond-wood look. The men’s and women’s departments are mirror images of each other. Don’t expect anything cute, like chintz slipper chairs separating the women from the men--this is Armani.
The Mood: Welcome to Armani-land, less rarefied than its more glamorous older brother around the corner on Rodeo Drive. If you felt as though they were checking for fingerprints in the Armani couture store, you’ll find Emporio Armani decidedly more user-friendly and the youthful sales staff less forbidding. After leaving, you kind of feel like you should be handed a sucker. Now, that wasn’t so bad, was it?
The Goods: The aptly named emporium really does offer the world of Armani, everything from the designer’s shampoo to household tchotchkes, leather date books, costume jewelry, hats, shoes and children’s wear embossed with the winged Armani logo. The steel staircase leads to A/X jeans and weekend wear on the second floor and a restaurant on the third. The core, however, is the collection of blazers and suits galore for both sexes, as well as evening wear.
The Prices: Without a calculator, we figured that men’s and women’s wear appear to sell for about 50% to 60% of Armani couture. Men’s 100% flax suits (flax is “a derivative of linen,” according to a salesman) are $930. For women, there was a cotton-viscose navy blazer, $795; an acetate-rayon cream tuxedo suit, $955, and a linen-viscose short-sleeved shirt, $195.
Overheard: “For $800, can’t you buy a Calvin Klein?” pondered a woman checking out the blazers.
Misses: For purists, it’s the fabric content in the women’s line. The viscose and acetate quotients are distressingly high.
Hits: Men’s silk ties ($70) and men’s flax and cotton seersucker suits. For women, natural-fiber items, though few and far between, including classic silk blouses ($305), cotton cardigans ($155 to $185), and long, gingham sun dresses ($475).
Opinion: If you can afford it, it’s good for wardrobe fill-ins. The designer’s tailored look is undeniably there, even in evening wear, although the feel isn’t always. The dilemma for the almost-wealthy will be to, say, spend $795 and buy the Exchange label jacket, or starve for two months, wait for a couture sale, possibly find something in a color you can live with, and plunk down $1,400 for a forever wardrobe keeper.
Details: 9533 Brighton Way, Beverly Hills, (310) 271-7790; Armani Express restaurant, on the third floor, (310) 271-9940. Open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Saturday; noon to 5 p.m., Sunday.
