There was no more romantic collection in fashion this season than that of Valentino on Tuesday, Oct. 4, in Paris, whose Russian-themed haute couture collection of spring left the icy steppes for a tour of the sun-bleached Latin world.Paris – There was no more romantic collection in fashion this season than that of Valentino on Tuesday, Oct. 4, in Paris, whose Russian-themed haute couture collection of spring left the icy steppes for a tour of the sun-bleached Latin world.

Travel, as much in the imagination as physically to foreign lands, underpinned this whole collection whose evocative quirky lady finale won the house's design duo of Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pier Paolo Piccioli a huge ovation at the finale.

Under Chiuri and Piccioli, Valentino collections had retained the signature DNA of the brand - feminine grace, alluring evening looks and class with a smart soupçon of sex appeal, while also injecting an arty dose of chic.

"I think right now people need to get emotion from fashion. That's what we want most of all, that the clothes stir something inside you," Chiuri explained.

This being a spring 2012 collection, there was little tailoring. Instead, the emphasis was on two items - the cocktail dress and the evening gown. The former was cut short, looked most spectacular when made in semi-transparent lace and most alluring when composed in Valentino's classic sinful red.

This was an almost effortlessly assured show, where the technically complicated constructions looked as natural and easy as the design was so good. For example, a beautiful beige cocktail dress, whose delicate lace torso morphed into a gently flared leather cocktail below the waistline.

"It's about travel, of a European to Mexico, of the Latin world of the Americas, even though the trip is made in the mind, not on a plane," joked Piccioli.

Their finale, a faintly Tolstoyan series where the floor-length columns in chiffon and lace, had hipster society hostess written all over them.
POST: 2024-11-24