September 30, 2024 |
To say it was the most anticipated debut of the season would be an understatement. Alessandro Michele, a bonafide superstar designer (who in his previous job had tripled the revenues of Gucci), unveiled his first Valentino catwalk collection.
He took us to a judo centre on the outskirts of Paris, where guests walked through a pitch black airlock tunnel, dividing real life from Michele’s new Valentino world.
A vast room with a mirror cracked floor was filled with antiques covered in ghostly dust sheets – a metaphor perhaps for Michele’s archival approach of uncovering the treasures of the house and bringing them into a new era. The excitement built as Harry Styles, Florence Welch, Andrew Garfield, Carla Bruni, Elton John and David Furnish took their seats.
Then the new Michele era for Valentino began. From the very first look – a formal, wool, flounce-hemmed dress decorated with a white bib and black grosgrain bows, worn with red tights and crystal trimmed shoes – it was clear Michele would lean-in to Valentino’s couture house sensibility. He did just that with ruched polkadot flounced gowns that he later described as “beautiful like an explosion.” There was nothing ordinary about these sumptuous clothes. Lavishly sequinned and embroidered oriental jackets thrilled with hand-crafted detailing. Little sharp-shouldered sporty jackets (worn with jeans and flat ballet pumps) spoke to the discipline and finesse of the Valentino atelier. Decadent marabou stoles and oversized straw hats – the kind that they simply don’t make anymore were throwbacks to another time, when dressing-up was an important part of life. Michele cited the sixties, seventies and early eighties as his touch stone eras. Speaking after the show, he recalled visiting the Valentino archive on his very first day in the job, with his instinct drawing him towards pieces that were démodé or not in fashion. “I was looking for something that had been forgotten,” he said.
Things like polkadots and flouncy silk day dresses, paisley brocade jackets, marabou trimmed gowns and ruched cocktail dresses.
This was haute bourgeois dressing – beautiful clothes for beautiful lives – but with a maximalist, Michele twist. Michele’s young models wore pearl and crystal nose and mouth jewellery with their beautifully tailored finery, as well as lace gloves and little lady-like shoulder bags. The styling was intense – lace tights, gilded slingbacks, huge hats, veils, fringed shoppers, tassel belts, ballet pumps (for men and women), oversized beads and layered-up crystal jewels. “I wanted to tell a new generation, it’s possible to be weirdly chic in a disciplined or unruly way,” said the designer of his more-is-more style.
The finesse of the looks was second to none. It looked rich, taking us on a sumptuous, glorious, deep dive into the Valentino heritage. Here is a house with a history and an atelier that can match Michele’s decadent tastes and soaring imagination. “Here it’s normal to ask for things that elsewhere would not be possible,” he acknowledged, saying the Valentino seamstresses, “should be protected like leopards”. In a heavy world, said the designer, “It’s important to have something. Frivolous and light.” Making the case for his frills, polkadots and lavish fancies he said, “It comes back to a celebration of life and objects. If you have a good relationship with objects, with clothes, you can really glorify life.”
Photography courtesy of Valentino.
