(images via vogue)
i suppose you could say i’ve become something of a reluctant valentino fan. or no, i don’t like the way that sounds–after all, when valentino garavani himself was heading things up, i looooved his work, so maybe it’s that purist in me that has been holding myself aloft from the work of those new designers, maria grazia chiuri and pier paolo piccioli (but then, to that, too, i say no: i was myself a fan of alessandra facchinetti’s brief stint as creative director with the brand, circa f/w 2008–s/s 2009). rather, i think it’s clear that what i haven’t liked was the too girlish contingent ms. chiuri and mr. piccioli have been pushing lo these many seasons now, but more and more i’m finding it’s either growing on me, or maybe they’re just better at mixing it up.
truly, after all of these long seasons (see the couture shows: s/s 2010 hc, f/w 2010 hc, s/s 2011 hc, f/w 2011 hc, s/s 2012 hc, f/w 2012 hc), actually, i’m finding it hard to tell. maybe their work is simply growing on me, but i think that more likely they’re just getting a bit better at incorporating their youthful agenda in with some token pieces to flatter girls beyond the ingenue subset (although let’s be frank, they were definitely courted heavily again for the s/s 2013 haute couture showing), giving way to kinder feelings in myself. after all, i want to like valentino, as i’ve long been a fan of the house and the aesthetic it has stood for. and, after all, when looking closer at some of these details, it can be exceedingly difficult not to be drawn in at least somewhat.
so. with that in mind, are you ready to hear some of the critical fawning before us for the upcoming spring range? right, then. and so, the ib times explained that this latest “collection drew broad inspiration from summer gardens across the world…The metaphor of the cage ran through much of the Valentino creations, situating the idea behind the collection in a Secret Garden-like space, from within which emerged both the physical and abstract concept of layers – growth and evolution through stages of realisation – and also that of space itself… secret space, swirls of it, in fact.”
and in a bit of the rarely-seen backstory on the inner-workings of the pieces themselves, style reported that “(t)e most extraordinary outfit in the presentation featured layer upon layer of organza, embroidered with butterflies and birds, the whole lot wrapped in a tulle cage scrolled with crepe piping. According to the notes, it took 500 hours of hand-rolling to produce the piping. And that was just one of the outfits that featured the effect. One roller apparently developed carpal tunnel syndrome during the production of the collection. There were plenty more such examples of artisanal effort. To pick just one at random, it took 850 hours to embroider an organza jacket and skirt.”
and they carried on to declare that “it was the magic that triumphed, in processes like a lace of multicolored flowers or a hand-painted organza. The subtle drama of an organza gown embroidered with crystals and topaz beads was summed up by its name: ‘Le silence de tournesols.’ Quiet sunflowers. That was as intriguing as Piccioli’s revelation that the essence of the collection was contained in labyrinths, where nature meets architecture and science meets spiritual rebirth. Magic? Let’s hope so. ”
and finally, they yodeled out that “(t)he almost penitent purity of Chiuri and Piccioli’s past work for Valentino was nailed for good and all in the ivory cape dress worn by Julia Nobis, with a tracery of that devil’s piping down the back. But new here was a finely honed appreciation of carnality. It was devastatingly direct in a dress and cape in black guipure (based on a nineteenth-century Venetian pattern, the notes obliged). And the designers injected regular shots of the house’s signature red. They were a pleasing disruption to a show that was almost too much of a good thing. Understandable. How do you edit perfection?”
“Curlicues made from tubes of red, white, or black fabric decorated everything from dresses to suits and even shoes, echoing the wrought-iron gates and fences used to tame nature in public parks,” shrieked fashionologie. “One gray dress covered in embroidered birds was paired with a black cape made from the tubing, making the model wearing it look like a mobile birdcage. Black lace was arranged on one A-line skirt to look like a garden maze, and a procession of shimmering green leaves snaked up a sheer ruffled dress.”
elsewhere, according to wwd, “(w)hen a model stepped into the room sheltered by a black, birdcagelike cape made out of fabric tubes, the audience burst into spontaneous applause. The show was breathtaking. Chiuri and Piccioli are cultivating an intoxicating, covered-up approach to fashion that seduces with fragility and feminine grace, not skin. Yet the spare precision cuts were resolutely modern. Sculpted, just slightly off-the-shoulder necklines gave a futuristic gloss to otherwise prim luncheon suits and coats, some bearing hawthorn embroideries. One long-sleeve gown in a glossy wool was blushed with a faint rose color and was void of detail but for a high, budlike neckline that cradled the head, the fabric peeling open ever so slightly at the back like petals.”
and the iht‘s suzy menkes reported that “‘(i)t is the idea that the garden is part of our lives — and each culture has a different space. Not just about beauty but about living better,’ said the designers Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli, speaking jointly about their vision of the classic Roman garden. So the show opened with a Valentino red dress, with a tulle ‘cage’ like wrought ironwork. It was a metaphor for the grilled gate of an Italian palazzo opening on a world of wonder. A similar effect was the stitching of an aerial view of a maze in a Roman park. There also was a tulle bird cage embroidered with ‘wrought iron,’ which, in fact, was thin roulettes of fabric.”
“The fact that so much of the story was concealed under layers of ultralight fabric made for an intriguing and different take from the typical hothouse blooms of this summer season,” she reflected. “The duo said that for first time they put on their mood board not just inspirations of gardens from ancient Persia to today’s Rome, but also the progress of each outfit: for example, a cage dress as it was first cut and a coat with a low shoulder line, which is also a key element in this season’s couture. The influences came through as moonlight glinting on pearly bead embroidery, like a reflection on water in a grotto. Or there might be layers of organza: a cloak, and under it another cloudy surface with birds in flight, with a hint of third, floral underlay of flowers beginning to bloom.”
valentino, warbled vogue, “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.”
and finally, we heard the declaration of the telegraph that “(t)his was the standout show of the week; workmanship to swoon and sigh over, and clothes you actually want – scratch that, would love – to wear. Their embroidery and crystal beading is so subtly incorporated into the layers of tulle and chiffon that they become utterly intrinsic to the design…The very first dress that – a graceful, gauzy pale taupe bell with a red tracery of curlicues and rococo squiggles – did just that. Later on, the wrought iron turned into a cobwebby-sheer cloak. There is never the sense that embellishment has been plonked on for the sake of it, or to please gaudy rich women. Those curlicues also showed up on slim fitted cream suits and drop-shouldered dresses.”
and we’ll conclude with their thought that “(p)art of the charm of their approach derives from the yin-yang balance achieved in every look…That’s until you see what Grazia Chiuri and Piccioli have done with duchesse satin, sculpting it into sumptuous-yet-austere dresses with throat-grazing necklines, slit-sleeves and cloak-backs, somehow blending Renaissance aesthetic values with those of the Sixties. That demure, round neckline, long sleeved, slender torsoed, bell-shaped skirt configuration has become much copied elsewhere, increasingly sighted along the front row and even on the staid, traditional red carpet. So as well as immersing themselves in the techniques of couture, Grazia Chiuri and Piccioli have introduced an alternative view of femininity. ‘We like to think that there are different ways to be sexy’ Maria told me.” decent. maybe that’s a point they could reflect on more come the future seasons, non?
(enjoy the complete collection video here)
oneporktaco 