Armani Privé Fall Winter Haute Couture

Was there a whisper of an homage to the late Yves Saint Laurent in the extreme focus on pantsuits, with the bow as a playful motif at neck or at a dizzy angle on a dress shoulder? Armani has balked in previous seasons at concentrating his couture on his claim to fame: softening the androgyny of the pantsuit and bringing peace to fashion's gender warfare. But that was the spirit of this Privé show, with its artfully mismatched tailoring, the fabrics veering from male to female.

Jackets with ripples down the front met the pants in a different tone flowing below, loose but narrow at the ankle. Even the accessories had taken on an elegant ease since the early days of Armani cocktail hats.