March 6, 2023 |
It was black tie but not the classic, Fred Astaire kind. Pierpaolo Piccioli’s Valentino honed in on the the grittier skinny black ties worn during the Two-Tone movement. The British youth cult which spawned bands like The Specials, The Selecter and Madness, came after punk and saw black and white kids partying and making music together like never before. Boys and girls dressed alike in white shirts, skinny black ties and shrunken black suits.
Piccioli teased the show with a tattooed skinhead pulling on her shirt, black tie and jacket. That skinny black tie was the common denominator in all the looks, unfettered, sliding between day, night, masculine and feminine.
The show opened with a little white shirt collared halter neck, with the skinny black tie morphing into a kicky little mini dress. That was followed by another buzz cut, heavily pierced beauty, wearing a shrunken version of the two tone suit – a cropped white shirt and tie, tiny black shorts, a narrow black jacket heavy boots. The boys came out in similar short shorts. Sometimes it swung toward couture with a feather mini and matching chubby, or crystal mermaid skirt worn with crisp white shirts and black ties but this collection was all about modern youth.
Piccioli talked about being inspired by his teenage daughter who borrowed one of his ties because she’d never worn anything like it. By wearing it, she neutralised its supposed meaning as an emblem of masculinity, orthodoxy and restriction, reclaiming it as a joyful fashion piece. Similarly, Piccioli wanted to subvert the symbolism of the tie as a signifier of male power, by putting it on everyone. His tattooed, pierced and buzz cut Valentino kids stormed the elegant salons of the Hotel Salomon de Rothschild, deconstructing formal dressing and remaking it in their own codes.
Photography courtesy of Valentino.
