Jewellery (jewelry)

By Alessandra Ilari MILAN ? Welcome to Giorgio a-go-go.

With an energy level that would exhaust even the fittest, the designer landed in New York Sunday for a 48-hour whirlwind visit that included checking in on the progress of his new flagship, attending the Metropolitan Museum’s Costume Institute gala, making a personal appearance at Saks Fifth Avenue, being honored with the first Couture Council Award for Global Fashion Leadership and participating in a question-and-answer session with students at the Fashion Institute of Technology.

Sporty Spice

“It will be like being in apnea with a program that changes every five minutes,” joked Armani during an interview in his Via Borgonuovo offices here before the trip.

Immediately after landing in Manhattan from Antigua, Armani stopped to check the progress of the flagship he’s building on Fifth Avenue slated to open early next year. Seeing the gutted interior of the 47,000-square-foot unit for the first time, he said, “I was curious to see this store. New York needs glamour. It needs size. This store is an act of faith toward the Americans and Fifth Avenue shoppers because I still very much believe in this market in which I invested a lot,” said Armani.

His next appointment of the day was a walk-through of the “Superheroes” exhibition, accompanied by Vogue editor in chief Anna Wintour ? with whom the designer had a much-talked-about dustup in Milan in February ? and Harold Koda and Andrew Bolton of the Costume Institute.

Armani has contributed three looks to the exhibition ? a specially made sculptured dress with exaggerated slopey shoulders that he described as a latter-day Barbarella, but was quick to point out doesn’t pertain to his taste; a Giorgio Armani dress with a spiderweb-looking overlay from the spring 1990 collection, and an Emporio men’s wear outfit from fall 2007.

At tonight’s Met gala, Armani will be honorary chair, with co-chairs Wintour, George Clooney and Julia Roberts. The two actors plus Sarah Larson, Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes, David and Victoria Beckham and Camilla Belle all will don Armani. In fact, Roberts was spotted having a fitting for her dress on Friday.
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