Book Looks : ‘Giorgio Armani: Images of Man’

Authors: Richard Martin and Harold Koda.

Info: Rizzoli International Inc., 1990. $35 paperback. 215 pages plus chronology and photo credits.

Since Giorgio Armani introduced the unconstructed jacket in the ‘70s and began melding the traditionally tailored styles of business attire with the more comfortable aspects of leisure wear, nothing has been the same. This exquisite book of exquisite looking young men--beautiful yet very real looking--was published on the occasion of an exhibition at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York from November, 1990 to January, 1991. Fifteen years of Aldo Falli photographs, commissioned by Armani, interpret as much about clothes for men from fall-winter 1975 to fall-winter 1990 as they do about advertising techniques or hairstyles of a given period.

And the photography is indeed the focus. Armani himself was stylist for the shoots, and the results are both deeply intense and casual, as are his slouchy soft silhouettes and his muted palettes.

An introduction by Martin and Koda sets up the Armani influences; a useful chronology at the rear puts the influential designer’s evolution into perspective. The most frustrating aspect of this volume is that none of the hundreds of photographs has a single caption. Then again, it’s awfully nice just enjoying the scenery.

This book is available at Rizzoli, Costa Mesa, and other area bookstores.