PARIS (AP) 鈥� Valentino鈥檚 first couture show since house founder opened under a somber shadow, with many guests fresh from the ceremony 鈥� then snapped it off with a jolt of pure theater.
VIP guests, including Sir Elton John and Kirsten Dunst, were guided through near-darkness to their 鈥渟eats鈥�: simple stools set against circular pods, each punctured by a small kinky-feeling viewing window.
When the show began, the blinds lifted; the classical music soundtrack cut by the sharp punctuation of barking dogs.
Inside the hubs, models appeared like mannequins behind glass 鈥� private viewing holes turned into a couture peep show.
Couture as show
The white, sterile-lit staging leaned into the idea of a curated gaze.
Each guest saw a slice, not always the whole: a face, a shoulder, a shimmer of fabric, then the next.
The set read like a sterilized, futuristic cell 鈥� clean, white, clinical 鈥� made more unsettling by the soundscape, which kept slipping from elegance into angry animal sounds.
It was a clever piece of showcraft: creative director Alessandro Michele, a maximalist by instinct, using restriction as a hook.
He didn鈥檛 flood the room with spectacle; he rationed it.
Spectacular set, restrained clothes
The often dazzling clothes, however, didn’t always match the set鈥檚 ambition.
Michele delivered disco sheen 鈥� sparkle, gems, bedazzled headwear and layered gold collars with a faint circus edge 鈥� but the couture itself felt comparatively restrained, even cautious.
There were strong flashes: bold sleeves that swelled toward leg-of-mutton proportions; sequined surfaces that caught the light with that Valentino polish; and occasional provocation in the way the body was framed.
The skirts of giant billowing dresses nicely overwhelmed the human form.
But for a designer known for excess, the collection often played it safe.
Stars and strobe stripes
Front row heat underlined the stakes.
The room pulled in a heavy mix of celebrity and brand power, from Dakota Johnson to Lily Allen and Tyla, plus global ambassadors and high-wattage fashion regulars.
The atmosphere said 鈥渆vent.鈥�
The collection said 鈥渞eset鈥�: a designer calibrating his volume, testing how far he can without breaking them.
Michele can stage a show 鈥� that much is settled.
Fashion insiders remember Garavani
For Suzy Menkes, the emotion around this Valentino couture show was immediate.
Coming straight from to Paris couture week, the fashion industry doyenne and former International Herald Tribune fashion critic said 鈥減eople do feel emotional鈥� because 鈥渋t is an end of an era.鈥�
She described a wider pattern, too: 鈥渙ne designer or elderly designer after another鈥� has 鈥済ently disappeared.鈥� But this, she suggested, felt like 鈥渁 special one鈥� 鈥� not only inside the industry, but beyond it.
Menkes said was 鈥渁 designer that everybody could understand,鈥� with 鈥渟o many clients and famous people鈥� that it wasn鈥檛 just 鈥渢hose who were contracted to fashion who knew of him.鈥�
Asked about her own history with Valentino, she traced it back 鈥渁bout 45 years ago,鈥� when she was a junior journalist 鈥� 鈥渉e didn鈥檛 pay much attention鈥� to her, she recalled, though he was 鈥渁lways polite,鈥� surrounded by 鈥渁n enormous number of people鈥� from fashion and 鈥渟ocial society.鈥�
She acknowledged that 鈥渨e鈥檝e got some really good designers who are taking over and doing a terrific job,鈥� but insisted the transition doesn鈥檛 feel identical: 鈥渋t鈥檚 not the same character鈥� it doesn鈥檛 seem to be the same person who was there before.鈥�
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