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By early 2011 Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli had been designing Valentino couture for two years, and their first collections had left people unsure what they wanted the house to be. Spring 2011 answered the question. Shown in the salons of the Hôtel Salomon de Rothschild on the last day of couture week, it was pale, light and quietly sure of itself.
Piccioli talked about taking weight away, and you can see it everywhere. Long, loose dresses in iridescent, barely-there colours were covered in lace, bows, ruffles, plissé and fine beading, with oversized collars giving them an almost schoolgirl sweetness. Even an ivory crepe day dress had open-work seams, and the lace panels on the trailing evening gowns made them look as if they might dissolve.
What keeps it from being merely pretty is the attitude. Hair and make-up were stark, Freja Beha Erichsen opened the show looking like a vestal virgin, and the models walked with a cool, faraway air. The designers’ argument was that elegance itself could be the rebellious choice.
The reaction was mostly warm. Critics noted that the pair had kept the house’s bows and romance while adding a point of view of their own, and more than one called it the prettiest couture show of the season. Not everyone was won over: some wondered whether Mr Valentino would approve of such a muted take, and the washed-out make-up had its detractors.
Still, this is the collection where the Chiuri and Piccioli Valentino comes into focus. Delicate, beautiful and much stronger than it first looks.
More Valentino: see every Valentino couture collection we have reviewed, the season before in Valentino Fall 2010 Couture, and Valentino Garavani: The Complete Guide.
Previous collection: Valentino Fall 2010 Couture · Next collection: Valentino Fall 2011 Couture
Pictures courtesy of Vogue Runway
We do not own the rights to any of these images and they have been used in good faith. Every effort has been made to ensure that all images are used with proper credits. If you are the rightful owner of any image used on our site and wish to have it removed, please contact us at ayerhsmagazine@gmail.com and we will promptly remove it. We are a non-commercial, passion-driven, independent fashion blog and do not intend to infringe any copyright. Thank you for your understanding.
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