Even before he showed his first collection, in 1975, Armani had been challenging ideas about the male suit and overcoat as they had been constructed since the 1790s on a basis of stiff canvas, interlining, padding and special stitching, so as to reshape a man's torso to look as much as possible like a classical statue. He discarded this armature that helped hide imperfections.
It all began with the jacket. Giorgio Armani twisted and bruised the angular piece of clothing - tearing out the padding, adjusting the proportions, moving the buttons - until he was left with something supple as a cardigan, light as a shirt. "Removing all rigidity from the garment and discovering an unexpected naturalness," as he put it years later. "It was the starting point for everything that came after." His 1970s reimagining of the jacket - a study in nonchalance - was to be his statement of purpose as a fashion designer.