Valli says he's reached a point of clarity in his career: His couture is an expression of the art of his atelier; his ready-to-wear is industrial craft, as mass as the production of these clothes is ever likely to get. This season he was fascinated by Japan's postwar Metabolist movement, which balanced industrial and artisanal design, the machine and the hand. Valli was insistent that his new collection expressed that balance. "The silhouette is extremely designed," he said, "but the materials are industrial." That wasn't immediately obvious, given that the fabrics had such a crafted feel, like the dress cut from a macramé lace it looked like a print from far away or the floral-printed leather. The cutouts and patchwork also felt very hand-y.
Giambattista Valli showroom in Paris via Instagram @andreajankeofficial
Giambattista Valli showroom in Paris via Instagram @andreajankeofficial
Giambattista Valli showroom in Paris via Instagram @andreajankeofficial
Fringe-style by Giambatttista Valli Spring 2015
Little throwback to this fabulous wedding in Venezia 12 days ago - Mrs. George Clooney has done a brilliant job of familiarizing the world with Giambattista Valli's oeuvre. It was perfect providence that the dress she wore the day after the wedding, from Valli's last couture collection, also previewed the ready-to-wear collection he showed last week, with branches of blossom sprayed across the simplest shift shape.
Giambattista Valli Couture floral embroidery-detail
Whatever the breakdown of man and machine, the collection still stood as Valli's most accomplished to date. The crispness of the silhouettes, the accuracy of the proportions (that sounds like such an odd point to make, but it's something Valli has been a little loosey-goosey with in the past), and the sophisticated textures of the fabrics made for something quite complete. Luigi Scialanga's big silver-disc jewelry was the finishing flourish. Valli imagined his woman working in the art world, traveling all the time, with a hypnotherapist in every city she could call on.
Mix that with a photograph of a Pop Art conversation pit interior; Willy Rizzo furnishings; and Roger Tallon’s famed spiral staircase with its spoon-shaped treads, and a picture emerges of a sleek, Warhol-era glamazon. Valli promised a “a jet-set folk attitude,” and proudly pointed out the accomplished technique of his atelier, who had created artisanal patchworks that combined such textile elements as eighteenth-century patterned brocades, printed gazar and leather, and thick macramé cotton lace, in the tidy shift dresses with a sixties couture flavor that have become his signature.
After seasons of those dignified little frocks, Giambattista finally also threw some pant looks into his runway lineup lean, with a gentle boot-leg flare, with hems long enough to kiss the floor and entirely disguising the high heels (thus extending the leg for days). They looked cool with tunic tops, and when worn with a take on the famed Tolfa bag (carried by well-heeled radical gals during the 1968 student protests in Paris) slung over the shoulder for an après midi on the barricades.
Discover the Giambattista Valli Spring 2015 runway show at the end of this post!
LoL, Andrea
Giambattista Valli
Selections by ANDREA JANKE Finest Accessories
Photo Credit / Source: The House of Giambattista Valli
'Op-Art Effects by Giambattista Valli Fall/Winter 2014/15'
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'Op-Art Effects by Giambattista Valli Fall/Winter 2014/15'
The silky, ivory-color shag-pile carpet of the Giambattista Valli runway set the tone for a gentle collection that the designer explained was about “a lot of textures, a lot of softness.”Backstage before the show he said that he wanted “a tender attitude celebrating the introspection of the Valli woman. There are designers that like a men’s wardrobe for women,” he continued, “but I like the woman’s softness.”
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