Valentino

Ever since Pierpaolo Piccioli went solo at Valentino, he has talked about fusing the haute couture codes of the maison with contemporary values. He wants to pull it out of its ivory tower and make the grandeur and romance of Valentino relevant for a 21st century world view. “This collection is very special to me,” the Roman couturier said in a preview of his haute couture collection the day before the show. “I like classic couture, I don’t like modernism in couture. So, in order to change couture, you change the meaning of it and not the codes.” A history of art buff, he had been looking at the Renaissance and Romanticist masterpieces that inform his haute couture creations and reflected on the way in which beauty was portrayed through the eras. “You always saw white women in the centre and black women on the side,” he said. “I wanted to put black women in the centre.” Through 65 looks, at least half of his show was modelled by women of colour, rectifying a sad norm on runways in this industry, which may be improving but in some instances sadly still exists.

“This was my reflection,” Piccioli said. “Historically, couture was never meant to be for black women. It was done for white women. But what if you take a picture by Cecil Beaton and you put a black woman in it? It completely changes the perspective.” Exploring that philosophy, he rooted the collection in florals and the arguably rather white institution that is the garden party, at least traditionally. “I wanted to explore the stereotypes of haute couture. The prints are very mother-of-the-bride,” Piccioli quipped. The reference paved the way for a collection that interpreted everything from floral-on-floral summer dressing – very Buckingham Palace in May – to 1980s lace floral hosiery and the pièces de résistance: the gowns! Those majestic Valentino volumes that made even the most cynical of show-goers all teenage-y with excitement last year, now lifted into a far weightier light; a kind of haute couture where the dreams, romance and aspiration suddenly took on a much more momentous sensibility.