S
et in the backdrop of the newly revamped Beekman Hotel in New York, with Nina Simone crooning to ‘feeling good’, Pierpaolo Piccioli’s first pre fall collection seemed nervous to state the least. And we can get our head around this limbo keeping in mind the fact that he is just overcoming the loss of his co creative genius – Maria Grazia Chiuri to Dior after 17 years of creative togetherness. The collection spoke of myriad of things like the new American dawn (owing to the presidential elections) or Pierpaolo Piccioli’s new found creative monopoly over the brand. Before the event, the brand took to instagram and set a preview of the whole show. Through its captions, the brand made it clear that the collection was a tribute to the city. That Piccioli “embraced the America of everyone dreams of, one of hope’. ‘Optimism’ was the lone inspiration of the whole collection.
For the first time in the history of Valentino, we saw PJs strutting down the ramp in all their Valentino-nian glory with mink coats, white plimsole slip ons and the pastel hued new ‘demilune’ bag. Over the knee boots was one of the ‘fall’ factors dominating the show. Piccioli reinstated the ‘fall’ rules by saying through his collection that floral prints are not only for spring but fall too. Vibrant collars kept the whole show on its toes. Whether it was the pointed flat collars, tie collars or even the victorian necklines, their peculiar design and colour spoke volumes of ‘evolution’. Another interesting concept was the ‘coming out’ of ribbed and knitted bralettes in the Valentino books of design. Bralettes worn over matching shirt dresses was quirkiness portrayed with sheer elegance and class. Something which only Maison Valentino would excel at. Colour blocking and embroidery also made it’s way to the pre fall collection.