Giorgio Armani Not-So-Subtly Shades Anna Wintour After She Skips His Milan Fashion Week Show

Italian designer also slams Fashion Week organizers for scheduling his show on the last day with no other big-name brands

By Natalie Finn Feb 25, 2014 9:24 PMTags
Giorgio Armani, Ann WintourNicholas Hunt/PatrickMcMullan.com

High-fashion feud alert!

Giorgio Armani was apparently not too busy attending to his Fall 2014 runway show—dubbed "Fade to Grey"—at Milan Fashion Week to notice who was missing from the front row.

"There are some who prefer to snub the Giorgio Armani show and go to Paris," the Italian designer sniffed at a press conference after the show, according to WWD.com. "She took an airplane, dumped Mr. Armani and went to Paris."

The snowy-haired fashion icon never mentioned the Vogue editor in chief by name, but it wasn't difficult to connect the dots between Wintour's absence and Armani's ire.

"Why should I always be the [Italian expletive] to be penalized because of a person, who, for better or for worse, like or dislike it, is powerful? I feel penalized," Armani continued, per WWD. "She said she was sending her people. But if you go to see your dentist and he puts you in the hands of his assistant, what's your reaction? They told me, ‘She went to see the Privé in Paris; she has no time to see the ready-to-wear in Milan. She is influential and powerful.' But, perhaps, I'm influential as well."

A spokeswoman for Vogue told WWD, meanwhile, that Wintour "has the greatest respect for Giorgio Armani and everything he has done for Italy and fashion worldwide. Unfortunately, with the fashion calendar now running for more than a month, there are some shows that Anna is unable to attend."

Wintour did attend Armani's Spring 2014 show back in September, and dozens of his shows before that, so it's not as if she has made a habit of snubbing him. And obviously his brand isn't really in need of the boost that Wintour's presence could give an up-and-comer.

But it's not as if Armani just blames Wintour.

He also slammed Fashion Week organizer Camera della Moda for crafting a schedule that had him as the only major designer showing on the final day of Fashion Week, a snafu that in his view prompted Wintour's early exit.

CDM president Mario Boselli later told WWD that all was fine, and that they would try in the future to schedule a number of big brands for the last day to avoid early departures by fashion-industry VIPs.

Preceded this month alone by the semiannual runway extravaganzas in New York and London, Milan Fashion Week officially ended on Sunday, and Paris Fashion Week for Fall 2014 kicks off today.