Silvana Armani honors a fashion dynasty with fluid, essential collection during Milan Fashion Week

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MILAN (AP) — Giorgio Armani’s niece Silvana Armani took up her uncle’s mantle with quiet confidence, presenting the first signature collection without the input of the iconic founding designer to close Milan Fashion Week on Sunday.

Actor Andie MacDowell, 67, was among the front-row guests for a show that represented a new chapter for the Giorgio Armani fashion group, following the designer's death Sept. 4 at age 91.

“One of the things that is really important to me is representing women of a certain age, and showing that we still are fashionable and powerful and strong, and we enjoy life and looking beautiful,’’ MacDowell said as she arrived for the show wearing a dark Armani suit with a three-dimensional rose detail.

"I love this because I was born Rosalie Anderson MacDowell, and I thought this suit was made for me. It makes me feel really elegant," she said.

The Giorgio Armani women’s winter wardrobe for next fall and winter was fluid, essential and wholly contemporary, expressing the fashion house’s essence. To point, there was no jewelry, save pins with the zodiac sign for Cancer, for the late designer's birth sign.

Opening looks were in an urban slate gray, softened by silken blouses with foulard detailing around the neck. A burgundy belt gave color and structure, while knitwear with the slightest scoop neck maintained discipline. Long overcoats grazed the runway.

As for her uncle, Silvan Armani made soft yet tailored jackets the backbone of the collection, including quilted Japanese-style jackets and colorful shearling coats. They were complemented with fluid trousers, some with side pleats for volume. Winter white trousers with silken high-neck blouses and anoraks suggested an active lifestyle, as did the cozy knitwear, cross-body bags and tinted eyewear.

The color palette shifted to burgundy and midnight blue, the new black. Velvet looks accented with beaded embroidery gave cozy elegance, while eveningwear featured iridescent corsets that sat slightly away from the body.

Even the dressier looks were worn with cross-body satchels, suggesting that the Giorgio Armani woman wasn’t waiting at home for evening festivities to begin.

Silvana Armani, 70, said after the show that the collection contained looks that she would wear herself.

“Working with fluidity and simplicity came naturally to me, because that’s how I am,” said Armani, who like her uncle took her bows in a navy sweater and trousers.

Silvana Armani also collaborated with Leo Dell’Orco, as Armani's creative heirs, in a crisp Emporio Armani co-ed collection that previewed on Thursday.

The Armani Theater floor was covered in wood to recall a music conservatory, the inspiration for a collection that drew on British formality with Italian sensibility. Tailcoats and waistcoats evoked performance, while denim grounded the looks and gave them fresh modernity.

The show closed with a striking finale of starched white shirts and impeccable black tie, drawing long, warm applause for the creative duo.

Olympic medal winners from Team Italia took front-row seats. They were outfitted for the Feb. 6-22 Games in EA7 Emporio Armani performance athleticwear.