Armani Haute Couture Cars Designed by Mercedes

In the fall of 2003, Mercedes-Benz and Giorgio Armani announced a joint venture, which marries a Mercedes-Benz CLK 500 Cabriolet show car with interior and exterior design accents inspired by Armani.

Last Monday, at the international motor show in Paris, Armani and the Stuttgart, Germany-based car maker revealed the new "Mercedes-Benz CLK designo by Giorgio Armani."

The idea for the collaboration was first inspired by the successful start of Mercedes-Benz’s sponsorship of a five-city world tour of the Solomon R. Guggenheim’s Giorgio Armani -- A Retrospective exhibition.

The tour began at Berlin's Neue Nationalgalerie in May 2003. After its stay in London, the exhibit then opened its doors in the Mori Arts Center Gallery in Tokyo Japan from April until June 5th.

Subsequently the exhibition is moving on to Shanghai China.

Mercedes' designo range has been around for ten years. The designo range allows the carmaker's discerning customers to personalize their Mercedes-Benz using a selection of exclusive material and paint finish options.


Only 100 units of the Mercedes-Benz CLK designo by Giorgio Armani are available worldwide.

Sign me up!

This exclusive special-edition vehicle is "Rugged Elegance" at its best -- with a capital "R," "E." Or should I say, "G," "A!" Even the maestro himself drives one of his own signature cars.


Take Your Senses on A Voyage of Discovery

Armani's signatures touches this year, as reported on Mercedes-Benz.com include:

High-Quality Material
Giorgio Armani has brought his own, characteristic style of timeless elegance to the Cabriolet. The entire exterior is painted in designo magno sabbia, a matt sandy shade with subtle greenish tints typical of Armani.

This paint finish, developed by Mercedes-Benz designo, powerfully emphasizes the otherwise unchanged contours of the CLK-Class Cabriolet.

You could say that Giorgio Armani´s contribution was to fashion an elegant summer outfit for the vehicle.


High-tech Material Meets Classic Leather

Giorgio Armani has skillfully coordinated the interior with the exterior, employing classic brown designo leather for the trim and the centre console.

He has created a striking effect by combining the brown leather with high-tech materials from the world of sportswear in the shade "sabbia".

Finely perforated leather also covers the steering wheel.

And all metal parts in the interior have a matt-chromed finish rather than the high-sheen finish found on other models, giving these parts what the designer describes as an "aged look".

Exclusive Standard Equipment

In technical terms, the limited-edition model is based on the CLK 500 Cabriolet ELEGANCE.

It not only features high-quality technology and exciting body styling but also offers the pure pleasure of open-top driving plus top-class comfort for four.

The new model has been even further upgraded with AMG bodystyling elements, including dynamic front and rear aprons and striking side skirts.

Standard Equipment

Standard equipment in Armani's new, exclusive open-top Mercedes-Benz is the THERMOTRONIC luxury automatic climate control system with solar sensor, ESP with BAS, an audio 20 radio with CD drive, electrically adjustable seats with memory function, speed-sensitive steering, a rain sensor for the windscreen wipers and cruise control with SPEEDTRONIC, DIRECT CONTROL suspension, belt tensioners, an EASY-ENTRY system, automatic belt feeders and automatic headlamps.

Standard-Fitted Extras

Standard-fitted extras include: PARKTRONIC (PTS), a Harman/Kardon surround-sound system with ten speakers and an 8 x 40 watt amplifier, heated seats, AMG-styling inclusive 18" AMG wheels, rear sidebags, designo leather appointments and designo magno sabbia metallic paintwork.


Mercedes

Giorgio Armani Opens NYC Restaurant

Giorgio Armani is a man of many talents -- and he'll be serving them all up on a combo platter now that his new NYC flagship store has opened up complete with a restaurant and chocolate shop!

The store is aptly named Armani/5th Street, while the eatery is Armani/Ristorante and the chocolate shop is Armani/Dolci -- don't you love the creativity that went into that thought process?

Celebs have already been treated to a preview. They convened as if it were an A-list convention last night to help the designer celebrate his business venture. AOL Food has more awesome information on other celebrity restaurants too; check it out!

However, we're getting a strange sense of deja vu -- Armani has already tried this before in Boston. And despite great reviews on Yelp, he failed. Do you think this time around he'll be more successful?
www.stylelist.com/2009/02/18/giorgio-armani-opens-nyc-restaurant/

Giorgio Armani for Lady Gaga

dresses for the night, including the one above), Armani has announced that he'll be spinning a few new designs for the American popstar for her world tour "Moster Ball".

Big shoulders and meticulous ribbon work mark his designs, and he's left nothing out, including shoes and sunglasses. Opera Chic's happy to share two of his new looks in the sketches below the cut.http://operachic.typepad.com/opera_chic/2010/02/giorgio-armani-for-lady-gaga.html

Background Of Giorgio Armani

Born in Piacenza, Italy in 1934, Giorgio Armani is one of the most celebrated and influential designers Italy has ever produced. But it was only by chance that he broke into the fashion industry in the Sixties, after brief forays into medicine (having studied at Milan University) and photography.

Following his military service, Armani launched his career as a window dresser at a large Milanese department store, called La Rinascente. He later revealed that he developed his classic style during this time, following frequent trips to the UK. "England was virtually the most important centre for inspiration," he says. "When I was working for Il Rinascente we used to travel to London for the influences, to see the shops, to learn. I remember seeing some yellow cardigans in a small boutique and bringing them to Il Rinascente and everyone thought I was insane. Yellow cardigans were what the Duke of Windsor was about, they were not something for the average man. The entire idea of such clothing was so outré, so elitist... very, very English."

In 1964, armed with an in-depth knowledge of fabric and design, he was taken on as a designer for Nino Cerruti's men's clothing company, Hitman. Posts at Ungaro and Zegna were soon to follow. In 1974, Armani introduced his own menswear label, his first womenswear collection coming a year later.

Since 1975, Armani has overseen the launch of Giorgio Armani Junior, Underwear, Swimwear, Accessories and Occhiali. Capitalising on the cachet of his more exclusive label, he opened the first of a series of stores selling his cheaper diffusion lines, Emporio Armani and Armani Jeans, in 1981. In 2000, he added a new make-up range to his output, specially designed by Pat McGrath. Today, the Armani empire comprises some 2,000 emporia world-wide with annual sales of more than $1 billion. His catwalk shows often draw a distinguished crowd when he was forced to show in New York in March 1998, after Paris police closed down his black marquee over Place Saint Sulpice claiming that the set-up was "unsafe", Robert de Niro, Spike Lee, Mark Wahlberg, Martin Scorsese, Sophia Loren and Wyclef Jean of The Fugees all came to watch.

Nonetheless Armani claims to base his vision on the everyday people in the street, believing that clothes should be made to be worn not just seen and drawing on the skills he learned as a menswear designer to produce contemporary clothes for women. The wide-shouldered power suit that was a trademark in the Eighties has been softened into a more supple, practical silhouette and Armani's collections these days are elegant and understated (the designer has often expressed a dislike of "important" clothes).

In 2000, Forbes declared Giorgio Armani to be the world's most successful designer, with personal earnings of $135 million in 1999. In 2001, the magazine put him at No.19 (behind the Bulgari family and ahead of the Pradas) on a list of Fashion's New Aristocrats.http://www.fragrancex.com/products/_bid_Giorgio--Armani-am-cid_perfume-am-lid_G__brand_history.html