Armani Clothes + Emporio Armani = Philanthropy?Armani in London had even Beyonce in a sweat: “Thank you for having me, Mr Armani!”, she said after her perfomance to 1600 guests. Giorgio Armani showcased his SS07 Emporio Armani collection in London and acknowledged his involvement with the Red Charity and the opening of Armani/Casa on Bond Street earlier in the day. The event attracted stars such as Leonardo DiCaprio, Bono and 50 cent.

Armani, according to the Independent, is the most powerful man in fashion, and so it should be no surprise that he, and his charitable cause, are able to persuade Beyoncé, Razorlight, Bryan Ferry and Andrea Bocelli to provide the soundtrack to his catwalk show. There were plenty of clothes for the guests to look at though, many flown in from Italy .

Highlighting the charitable intentions of the evening, there were splashes of red in his otherwise grey and black spring Emporio Armani collection, as was the case with the tomato-coloured patent belts worn with a black-and-white striped cocktail frock keeping in tune with the 1980s trend hitting London catwalks earlier this week or strawberry-red taffeta dresses. RED clothing refers to the charity’s stated intention to fight Aids in Africa .