Deadly duo of fashion

Giorgio Armani and Roberto Cavalli have a combined age of 148 — and diametrically opposed views on life.

Armani, who likes aerodynamic women with boyish physiques, founded an empire on a "look but don't get too excited" approach to sexuality in clothing. Cavalli, who as much as possible would like everyone to resemble voluptuous Italian starlets, founded a business on tight animal prints expressly conceived to inspire heavy breathing.

At the end of their respective shows, Armani stands alone at the end of his catwalk, dressed in his habitual navy blue calico trousers and cotton T-shirt, a beatific expression of prayer on his face as he presses his hands together.

Cavalli strides down the catwalk in creaking leather trousers or jackets, trailing Eva, his former beauty queen wife, and heady clouds of aftershave as he eyes up the front row celebrities.

It is a testament to the diversity of taste that still exists in an increasingly homogenised global market, that both men continue to profit from such diametrically different aesthetics — more than profit, since both had the honour of bringing Milan Fashion Week to a close. They did so by sticking to the founding principles of their success with tiny — almost imperceptible — tweaks.

To a soundtrack that sounded like a machine gun, the Cavalli models romped around in empire line, leopard and snake-print chiffon dresses that attempted to combine his classic hammer-over-the-head seduction techniques with a touch of Jane Austen. It was an ambitious marriage if not an entirely convincing one.

For Armani, against the soothing rhythm of lapping waves, the evolution focused on soft jackets with slightly more pointy than usual shoulders that evoked the prow of a small fishing boat, and a new slim trouser, slit up the front. He cuts a good pair of trousers, when he's not being tricksy, and this one was big news. Armani showed them underneath the pointy jackets, beneath sarong skirts, or with dresses — and sometimes with all three.

Fortunes were mixed, but Armani's beaded red carpet dresses, especially the strapless ones that looked like uber glamorous towels, are always fit for purpose, although the accompanying cuban-heeled shoes didn't do them full justice. There was a seaside theme — hence the gentle aqueous hues of those iridescent silks, the shell-coloured embellishment on the evening wear and, presumably, the prow shoulder.

But was Armani trying to tell us something more? Were the models posing as the Three Graces in their beaded towel dresses and the mellow moon that hovered over the catwalk code for "I'm retiring to Koh Samui?"

Looking ahead

The spotlight shifts to Paris Fashion Week and speculation is mounting that fashion's status quo is about to be rocked. Raf Simons (Jil Sander) is said to be heading to YSL to replace Stefano Pilati. Pilati, it is speculated, would be anointed successor to Armani. Marc Jacobs would leave Louis Vuitton to head up Dior, leaving room for Tom Ford to take over Vuitton. None of this is confirmed. But when at least some of it is confirmed — Dior must appoint a new designer soon surely — a game of musical chairs will ensue as giddy as football's transfer deadline day. The money's there, the fans are agog, the intrigue is potentially as explosive — and clothes are so very much more interesting than footballers.