VALENTINO SPRING 2014 COUTURE

SPRING/SUMMER 2014 COLLECTION

Fragile, graceful creatures, ethereal and primordial, inhabit a dreamlike world. Sublime creations that define characters in a fairytale-like study of pure individuality. Lyrical and uninhibited, Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli have created an opus of pure imagination for Valentino’s Spring/Summer 2014 Haute Couture Collection: a harmonious and unexpected work, it is interpreted by a kaleidoscope of figures all seeking a stylistic and psychological unicum. Interpreting Couture from a narrative perspective, they leave it to the spectator to imagine the story while offering ideas and fragments of a fantastic voyage. The collection appears on a set, that is itself an accumulation of different scenes – the result of an ingenious partnership with the Rome Opera House – with which the clothes complement and interact in a process of heightened conversation. A true, natural dimension is rediscovered, one that champions fantasy as a defining character of humans, above and beyond every cold technicality.

Creativity is celebrated as a simple and instinctive gesture free of limitations or inhibitions, unmindful of the distinction between reality and the inner world. The clothes are as ephemeral as dreamy woven fabrics, as regal as majestic presence, and as vibrant as innocent expressions of untamed imagination. A swarm of butterflies alight upon a cape, delicate and transitory. Lions, snakes, and gorillas appear as intarsia on coats and capes. Opulence acquires an airy yet ancestral quality in fringed jute dresses, in satin capes with knotted feathers, and in textured, glamorous coats crowded with African scenes. The visceral power of imagination finds unexpected lightness in fauve motifs, a celebration of what the hand can create and the mind can imagine. The pyjama crosses boundaries between public and private, dreams and wakefulness. Dresses with unfinished tutus celebrate the sublime yearning of time. Draped cady dresses have pristine volumes and an archaic, affirmative presence akin to the figures of a choir. Earthly hues such as grey, beige, brown and rust abound. The countercurrent push towards our origins, in the name of innocence, pervades the collection, inspired on its quest for a still possible yet remote paradise. The woman is always at the center: she is a multi-faceted and elusive figure dressed in ever-changing guises, because by denying movement, contradiction and change one rejects the exciting, imperfect energy of life.