When Alessandro Michele showed his final collection for Gucci in Milan, I'll admit I was a bit relieved. The theatrics that had developed in the years of his creative direction, severed heads etc, were a bit sad. However, when the Rome-born designer made his hotly awaited return to the runway with his debut collection for
Valentino’s creative director Pierpaolo Piccioli set his sublime couture collection in the Gaggiandre, or ship building yard, of Venice. He was drawn to the place’s haunting beauty which he likened to a de Chirico painting with its arches and robust columns. In Renaissance times this place represented the hub of the city’s trading machine,
Pierpaolo Piccioli is busy keeping Valentino’s re-signification going, the line of thought about identity, humanity, and radicalism around which he’s been tailoring his practice since last year. “Today, more than ever, aesthetics are determined by identity to make Valentino’s codes and values pertinent for today, I want to keep a firm hold on