“Before I knew what this woman would wear, I knew how I wanted her to feel,” Giorgia Gabriele said of Armarium’s spring 2027 collection, “Control/Release.” The attitude was drawn from Bianca Jagger, and Charlotte Rampling as photographed by Helmut Newton. “I was interested in how Newton’s women occupied space,” Gabriele explained. Jagger brought an instinctive sensuality to masculine tailoring, while Rampling represented something more restrained. Together, those references shaped a woman who “can be sensual, austere, feminine, masculine: She doesn’t have to choose which identity she wants to have.”
That multiplicity translated into a constant negotiation between structure and fluidity, as the title suggests. Armarium’s tailoring, though, was lighter than ever: 220-gram stretch wool replaced the firmer four-season cloth Gabriele usually works with. “This is the first time we’ve gone this light, almost weightless,” she said. Among key looks, a white suit retained a sharp, elongated line; a cropped black jacket sat above low-slung trousers; and an oversized white shirt was cinched with double-buckle belts. Even the smallest tailoring details were reconsidered, with pocket-style welts used in place of conventional buttonholes. Glove-soft nappa—previously explored largely through accessories—moved into dresses and outerwear. A nappa skirt bonded to gray mélange jersey marked Gabriele’s first experiment combining two different materials through bonded construction: “It gives structure, but then you have the softness of the leather or the fabric itself,” she said.
Sensuality appeared through similar acts of restraint. Double silk satin and weightless viscose crêpe shaped dresses with open backs and raw-edge seams. Knitwear loosened up too: Where Armarium’s knitted dresses have traditionally fit like compact second skins, new openwork constructions allowed the body to show through without becoming overtly sheer, finished with fur-stitch embroidery at the hem. “I wanted them to breathe,” said Gabriele, “to show beyond, without showing too much.”
While black and white dominated the palette, red appeared in key looks as what Gabriele described as “strength and self-confidence.” Accessories continued Armarium’s idea of a wardrobe that expands rather than resets: Jewelry from previous seasons returned alongside new T-bar shoes, and the Evelina pump reworked with a sharper 9.5 centimeter heel. That growing wardrobe will soon have a permanent home: Armarium’s first Milan store opens this Fall. “It felt like a natural step,” Gabriele said. “It’s small, but I’m making it completely in my own image.”
