Purple Diary
[December 6 2023]
“Aldo Fallai for Giorgio Armani, 1977 – 2021” curated by Giorgio Armani, Rosanna Armani and Leo Dell’Orco at Armani/Silos
The exhibition which extends across two floors and approximately two hundred and fifty shots from magazines and billboards explores the artistic partnership between Florentine Aldo Fallai and Giorgio Armani. When they first meet, Armani is a young freelance designer; Fallai, having graduated from the Institute of Art, is a graphic designer with a happy inclination for photography. The two have an immediate understanding. Armani, conscious of the social changes underway whereby women are gaining power and men are, dressing more consciously, is determined to rewrite the rules for dressing and create a new lifestyle. Fallai assists him in the definition of an imagery, in which cinematographic evocations blend with echoes of late Renaissance and Mannerist painting in a mise-en-scène that is reminiscent of life and is therefore profoundly authentic. The use of black and white and the narrative abstraction this offers give the fictional images a flair of realism both immediate and timeless. The pair aspires to portray the best life possible, with scenes and situations in which the spectator could see themselves. They succeed because the images were portraits: although conceived to show the collections, they focus on the character of the models, making the clothes a subtle complement to their existence and way of being, reflecting the designer’s idea that elegance is not about being noticed, but about being remembered.
The Aldo Fallai per Giorgio Armani, 1977-2021 exhibition will be open to the public from 5 December 2023 to 11 August 2024.
