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The exquisite VALENTINO show was a fitting end to the couture season; a joyous celebration of the infinite possibilities of the unfettered imagination and of craftsmanship that in this house sometimes borders on the miraculous. “We really wanted to create a dream,” said Maria Grazia Chiuri during the fittings, “something really fantastic, magic, fairy tale. Couture is a dream, and we love to dream. Why not?”
Chiuri and her partner in design, Pierpaolo Piccioli, were looking at the idea of formal and secret gardens, with mazes, ancient mosaics, and romantic flower plantings. They conceived an idea of padded rouleaux, scrolled into raised decorative patterns on the surface of the fabric, to suggest the elaborate wrought-iron gates hiding the mystery within. And true to the mysteries of haute couture, they presented the design concept to the two Valentino ateliers (who work in proud autonomy from each other) and each resolved it in a very different way, even though to the eye the results are identical. “The ritual of couture is to be secret!” said Piccioli. That effect was used for prim little dresses (some with capelets) in ivory-on-ivory, and also diaphanous fabrics. A magnificent tulle cape embroidered in this black “ironwork” shadowed a ball dress elaborately embroidered with flowers and birds a masterwork that rightly elicited a spontaneous round of applause. Other innovative effects included lightly stamping bonded wool with a design, often taken from the schemes in eighteenth-century garden design books for formal parterres and flower beds, that registered from afar like a subtle print.
The designers also took many different laces and re-embroidered them to create shimmering collage effects like a late Monet garden-scape (there were prints that suggested this, too). Some of these dresses were as elaborate as Belle Epoque lingerie, although their silhouettes remain austere, and the designers leavened the heady brew with some dresses of unembellished, monastic simplicity that let the line and cut speak for themselves. Chiuri and Piccioli sent their fey girls out at breakneck speed so that as the finale’s Madame Bovary crinolines and Watteau-backed ball dresses brushed past scattered with chiffon dahlias, wrought with Sun King–era motifs in silver thread, or latticed with ribbon-work they seemed like so many exotic birds or flower fairies in flight. An emotional Valentino rose to his feet to greet the designers (once his assistants) as they took their curtain call, safe in the knowledge that his legacy of giddily feminine romance and faultless technique is blossoming in their hands.
The exquisite VALENTINO show was a fitting end to the couture season; a joyous celebration of the infinite possibilities of the unfettered imagination and of craftsmanship that in this house sometimes borders on the miraculous. “We really wanted to create a dream,” said Maria Grazia Chiuri during the fittings, “something really fantastic, magic, fairy tale. Couture is a dream, and we love to dream. Why not?”
Chiuri and her partner in design, Pierpaolo Piccioli, were looking at the idea of formal and secret gardens, with mazes, ancient mosaics, and romantic flower plantings. They conceived an idea of padded rouleaux, scrolled into raised decorative patterns on the surface of the fabric, to suggest the elaborate wrought-iron gates hiding the mystery within. And true to the mysteries of haute couture, they presented the design concept to the two Valentino ateliers (who work in proud autonomy from each other) and each resolved it in a very different way, even though to the eye the results are identical. “The ritual of couture is to be secret!” said Piccioli. That effect was used for prim little dresses (some with capelets) in ivory-on-ivory, and also diaphanous fabrics. A magnificent tulle cape embroidered in this black “ironwork” shadowed a ball dress elaborately embroidered with flowers and birds a masterwork that rightly elicited a spontaneous round of applause. Other innovative effects included lightly stamping bonded wool with a design, often taken from the schemes in eighteenth-century garden design books for formal parterres and flower beds, that registered from afar like a subtle print.
The designers also took many different laces and re-embroidered them to create shimmering collage effects like a late Monet garden-scape (there were prints that suggested this, too). Some of these dresses were as elaborate as Belle Epoque lingerie, although their silhouettes remain austere, and the designers leavened the heady brew with some dresses of unembellished, monastic simplicity that let the line and cut speak for themselves. Chiuri and Piccioli sent their fey girls out at breakneck speed so that as the finale’s Madame Bovary crinolines and Watteau-backed ball dresses brushed past scattered with chiffon dahlias, wrought with Sun King–era motifs in silver thread, or latticed with ribbon-work they seemed like so many exotic birds or flower fairies in flight. An emotional Valentino rose to his feet to greet the designers (once his assistants) as they took their curtain call, safe in the knowledge that his legacy of giddily feminine romance and faultless technique is blossoming in their hands.
Selections by ANDREA JANKE Finest Accessories
Photo Credit/Source: © VOGUE
Photography by © Marcus Tondo/InDigitalTeam/GoRunway
2 comments:
these pictures are fantastic!
I have completed missed this fashionshow as I am pretty busy these days. Glad to find your blog with all the runway!!!
Love, Ylenia from Longuette
The floral dress worn by Cara Delevigne is gorgeous. Soft, romantic..I like the looks in bold red!!
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