Valentino, Spring – Summer 2016, Ready to Wear

October 6, 2015

See all the Looks here:

At yesterday afternoon’s show, the Valentino count was high. By that, I mean the number of women wearing the stuff. And I don’t mean the borrowed gowns that froth up the front row, but actually clothes purchased from a store with hard earned cash. Spotted – the white piped long sleeved black day dress, the fringed leather jacket, two tiger intarsia sweaters (one wearer sat directly in front of the other), the Aran knit, checkerboard dress and too many rockstud bags and shoes to tot up. Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli have a knack when it comes to understanding how women want to look.

Yesterday, they left their Italian heritage and their beloved Rome behind (the city is their headquarters and is always a mine of inspiration, the rockstud for example was born from the humble pyramid studs that decorate the city’s doors) and instead they travelled to the wild plains of Africa.

With hair braided in cornrows and piled up into buns, the opening looks were a tame beginning to proceedings: a series of plain black and exquisite empire line tunics suspended by metal necklaces. Yes, plain black, it sounds Roman enough, but the show developed in decoration from there.

There were African prints depicting tribal scenes of leopards, rhinos, giraffes and elephants, kinetic geometric tribal markings, while cuffs and necklines exploded in quills and peacock feathers. Fringing is a mainstay here and it swished in tiered raffia to make up a coat, and from suede miniskirts and capes.

A series of tie-dye pieces – a jacquard coat, cargo jacket and pair of flares were also standout. And then came the fragile lace maxi dresses, so delicate they could almost evaporate right there and then.

Eyes were also on the new bags, which were garlanded in Masai beading and decked out in miniature African masks carved out of metal, and those white terracotta jewellery pieces were the result of a collaboration with artist Alessandro Gaggio, who designed the gold pendants at the couture show earlier this year. All in all, it was an epic body of work that women, from Rome to Africa and beyond will all be wanting a piece of.

Via British Vogue