On this last day of couture shows, designers Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli again elevated their woman to the position of a deity—one so otherworldly that even her silk and golden threads maintain a respectful distance from her body and appear to rest on but a breath of air. The designers’ starting point was Mariano Fortuny, an early 20th century Spanish designer who was an expert on “process” and understood the value of raw materials; among other things, Fortuny was also a lighting engineer. The same traits might also be attributed to Chiuri and Piccioli today.
While so many couturiers struggle to create garments that evoke lightness, it appears to come as a second nature to the Valentino couturiers. And if the deep garnet and forest green dresses with Byzantine-era accents and kimono-style overlays came across as belonging to another time, they also seemed relevant and modern for their freeing silhouettes—the antithesis of many of the structured garments revealed during this couture season.
In our intimate salone, the likes of Sabine Getty, Sofia Sanchez de Betak, Noor Fares, Olivia Palermo, and Margherita Maccapani Missoni—all who boast powerful statuses of their own: newly married, creative women, thinkers, and CEOs of their respective brands—represented the new guard of the House of Valentino. They looked on with wonder: captivated and ready to order the showcase that played out before them.
