GIORGIO ARMANI STORE OPENS TODAY!!

FEB. 17th from 6-8p

Mr. Armani will be greeting guests. Personally. And we've all seen the Posh and Becks ads. You know they'll be there.Giorgio Armani is coming to the most celebrated street in New York. Arguably the biggest party event this fashion week.

Fifth Avenue has been the focal point of many contemporary and historical events, and has featured in novels such as Edith Whartonʼs The Age of Innocence, and countless films in which its most famous buildings such as the Empire State Building or the New York Public Library have played a major part.

As for the museums, there are so many that the section that fronts Central Park is known as Museum Mile. Giorgio Armani said “a really exciting challenge - that is how I would describe our new concept store, Armani/5th Avenue in New York. It is a special project requiring a degree of courage, as it brings together in one space different elements such as Armani Jeans and Emporio Armani side by side with Giorgio Armani.

I was determined to send out a clear message of change, interpreting the current trend for mixing genres, juxtaposing items in different price brackets. You could say that this is a provocative move - uniting in the same place and with the same furnishings, without visible boundaries, the various collections that combine to form the entire Armani universe.

This freedom of expression defines for me the spirit of Fifth Avenue: a prestigious shopping destination, of course, but one that is less exclusive in character than comparable addresses, with a democratic mood which I am certain represents the future. I worked on the creation of this store with Doriana and Massimiliano Fuksas, whose hugely respected architectural practice is known for bringing a precisely judged sense of glamour to clothing stores.

This is the third project we have jointly accomplished, following on from Armani/Chater House in Hong Kong and Armani/Ginza Tower in Tokyo, and significantly all three offer totally distinctive environments, each different from the other, because I contend that identical retail spaces, monolithic and repetitive, belong in the past and cannot match the experience offered by a totally original store which introduces the public to the aesthetic excitement of fine contemporary architecture.”