Pierpaolo Piccioli presented his first Valentino collection in Milan and also one of the final presentation during Milan Fashion Week Spring’21. Pierpaolo Piccioli allow the pandemic that hit Italy the most to change him into a brave creative director/designer for Valentino and refused to draw inspiration from the past, he change the fashion house’s design codes, he said in his press release; “In this moment, sticking to an old mindset for me just wasn’t an option,” “I focused on working more on Valentino’s identity than on its aesthetics,”. Starting from his choice of venue, to his emotional and visual connection to his designs has made him one of the fashion’s romantic visionaries.
The brand’s spring collection was instinctively romantic, romance? in this time of global pandemic? but come to think of it, is romance, one of the sounds of love not what we need nowadays? So yes, radical romance in this end times, “For me, it rhymes with individuality, with the freedom to express our very own identity and diversity,” he said in his interview. So Piccioli thinks romance is with individuality but I think it’s healing, helps you to look beyond what’s going on around you, that feeling that helps you see positivities that gives hope. Piccioli also said: “Fashion for me is a way to talk about the values that matter today,” he said. “The true acceptance of diversity. Tolerance and kindness. This is the world I want to tell through my work as a designer.” I agree, ‘Tolerance and Kindness’ but I think kindness and love is just enough, making fashion to help you see everyone as your kind that deserved to be loved.
The collection has a gesture of couture, it says more of united world. The cast on the runway were diversed with various people with different backgrounds, the overall impression of the collection says what Valentino truly stands for. According to Pierpaolo, ‘Re-signification’ of Valentino, yes we believe, it shows in how there were variety of cast with individual characters, refusing to let the world’s problem weigh him down and choosing not to show off the fashion house’s glitz and glamour but focusing on changing the world around him, by telling a story through fashion that educate others, inspire others, modernising the brand’s essence without loosing what the brand is. He used fashion to enligten and keep an healthy emotion alive in us his audience, customers and the world as a whole.
The collection features volumes, shapes and textural hint of couture like lace, macrame, crochet and embroideries. There were blazers, blouses, short-suits and all very close to gender neutral designs, evening wears, and minimalistic looks. The evening wears include fluid cape dresses, sophisticated shapes of caftans, floral dresses(what we’ve seen more on the runway during this spring’21 fashion week). One of the standout pieces was a glamourous yellow look from archive – it was worn by Anjelic Huston and shot by Giampaolo Barbieri in 1972.
1 Comment