New book Armani/Fiori explores Giorgio Armani’s approach to flowers, charting the fashion master’s passion for vegetation and his brand’s eponymous floral branch. ‘In the environments where I spend time – be it at home or in my studio – there is never a shortage of flowers,’ Armani writes in the book’s introduction. ‘The same goes for the environments I devise. I love lotus flowers (so rare) and orchids (so mysterious).’
Armani/Fiori book by Giorgio Armani
Flowers are indissolubly connected to Armani’s memories, and scent connects his past and present: ‘Roses make me think of the month of May in Piacenza as a child, theirs is an aroma that moves me every time,’ he says. ‘Just as I love the fragrance of peonies and jasmine, which, together with roses, bloom in my garden in Broni. On Pantelleria, on the other hand, it is the frangipani, lemongrass, and rosemary that surround me with the torrid, balsamic scents of summer. And then the agave flower, so sweet and ripe, which always reminds me of that absolute moment of realisation: that of life bursting forth where everything around it appears to have been scorched.’
Armani/Fiori the enterprise made its debut in Milan in 2000, as part of the Armani/Manzoni 31 store, with later outposts in Dubai, Kuwait City and Hong Kong. The book charts the brand’s evolution through 200 photographs of its minimalist yet ebullient floral compositions, often presented in connection to Armani’s fashion and design pieces to exemplify the impact the floral world has had on his work and inspirations since the start.
‘I love streamlined, extremely sharp lines and shapes: compositions where the types of flowers and greenery are limited, reaching the maximum abstraction of only one type of flower and only one type of green,’ Armani continues. ‘And I like geometry: both in the cuts of the leaves and in the vases, which always have regular shapes such as cubes and spheres, with asymmetries that make everything so moving and elegant, so vibrant and pure.’
The book’s compositions feature a mix of, among others, agave, bamboo, tulips, oxypetalum, and heliconia, and its pages take viewers through a chromatic voyage spanning vivid greens, bright reds, elegant whites with a touch of gold. The photographs are accompanied by a series of essays by Armani himself as well as Harriet Quick, Dan Rubinstein, and Renato Bruni.
Armani Fiori is published by Rizzoli NY, US Price: $120
All proceeds from the royalties of this book will be donated by Giorgio Armani to the Forestami urban forestation project
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