Photo-Illustration: by The Cut: Photos: Alessandro Lucioni, Getty Images,
Valentino Garavani, the Roman couturier who died on January 19 at age 93, led a very glamorous life among his many homes and yacht, his adored yapping pugs, and his famous friends who, as often as not, were clients. On Wednesday, in Paris, Alessandro Michele paid tribute to the master in his couture collection, his second as creative director of Valentino. Michele opened the show with a clip of Valentino reflecting on the influence of movies on his boyhood decision to become a couturier and “play with clothes for ladies.”
What followed was all about play as we turned on our stools and faced a square peephole and then watched as model after model entered a small, round room and our gaze. It was a funny sensation: voyeuristic, silly. An audience of fashion people with their faces nearly pressed against holes in a white wall. A series of rooms had been built along the sides of the catwalk. The idea was taken from a 19th-century entertainment called a Kaiserpanorama, a public carousel of images with viewing holes. The philosopher and critic Walter Benjamin wrote a lot about French capitalist culture in that century, and Michele loves to refer to Benjamin, as he did again in his show notes. Well, Benjamin is fun to read.
And the stereoscope was a clever way to coral our attention and present a collection largely drawn from the movies and, as well, the notion of myths. “People from fashion are voyeurs, too,” Michele said backstage. “I was trying to say we need to go back and look at things and not just watch quickly. Haute couture is a really good way to take your time.”
Inescapably, there was also erotic meaning in the presentation — though not so much in the clothing — of a Pigalle peep show.
From left: Photo: Alessandro Lucioni / Gorunway.com/photo: Alessandro Lucioni / Gorunway.comPhoto: Alessandro Lucioni / Gorunway.com/photo: Alessandro Lucioni / Gorunway.com
From top: Photo: Alessandro Lucioni / Gorunway.com/photo: Alessandro Lucioni / Gorunway.comPhoto: Alessandro Lucioni / Gorunway.com/photo: Alessandro …
From top: Photo: Alessandro Lucioni / Gorunway.com/photo: Alessandro Lucioni / Gorunway.comPhoto: Alessandro Lucioni / Gorunway.com/photo: Alessandro Lucioni / Gorunway.com
Michele took some flak a year ago for his debut show, an overwrought affair presented in a semi-dark theater, which didn’t resemble Valentino. This time, he played it straight with dreamy gowns, a few fitted suits, and many dramatic, embellished coats and capes. One saw hints of Greta Garbo and Theda Bara, a silent-screen star, and one or two (I imagined) Fellini showgirls. Though the collection contained more costume than contemporary fashion, and could have been a bit lighter in style, maybe that’s also a reflection of this moment and an Instagram scroll.
From left: Photo: Alessandro Lucioni / Gorunway.com/photo: Alessandro Lucioni / Gorunway.comPhoto: Alessandro Lucioni / Gorunway.com/Alessandro Lucioni / Gorunway.com
From top: Photo: Alessandro Lucioni / Gorunway.com/photo: Alessandro Lucioni / Gorunway.comPhoto: Alessandro Lucioni / Gorunway.com/Alessandro Lucioni…
From top: Photo: Alessandro Lucioni / Gorunway.com/photo: Alessandro Lucioni / Gorunway.comPhoto: Alessandro Lucioni / Gorunway.com/Alessandro Lucioni / Gorunway.com
Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren began their presentation with a model in a white minidress standing on a platform on a stage, and it was only in the last seconds that we understood where the Viktor & Rolf team was taking her — and us.
Every couple of minutes, another model dressed mostly in black would emerge from the wings and stop in front of the platform so the designers could remove a colorful element — frilly balloon sleeves, a collar, a swag of ruffles. Horsting and Snoeren, looking as serious as undertakers preparing a corpse, would then attach that item to the model in white. There were about a dozen steps in the process, and a few models carried long poles wound in their black dresses.
The designers are used to transforming humans during a kind of art performance. But the charming aspect of this switch is that it happened suddenly, when they placed the last pole in the back of her layered ensemble, put some tension in a stage wire behind her, and the woman floated upward as a giant kite. Just as her feet cleared the platform, the designers attached the kite’s tail.
Armani Privé is now in the hands of Giorgio Armani’s niece, Silvana Armani, who worked next to the designer for years. On Wednesday night, she took her bow as creative director, walking slowly through each audience room as no doubt many wondered who she was. The bigger question is what the Armani company plans to do with its overall design direction. Rely on the existing team? Look for new creative leadership? Armani is ripe for some fresh thinking, and despite Silvana’s effort in the couture show, the brand needs it.
From left: Photo: Victor VIRGILE/Gamma-Rapho via Getty ImagesPhoto: Victor VIRGILE/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images
From top: Photo: Victor VIRGILE/Gamma-Rapho via Getty ImagesPhoto: Victor VIRGILE/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images
Perhaps the biggest change that Silvana made was to loosen up the attitude — ease up on the fit, remove the awful hats, and cut down on the number of evening outfits. Armani will have plenty of streamlined gowns available for the Oscars, but I liked the muscle of so many fluid pantsuits in shades of shell pink and jade and, of course, black.
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