The inspiration of the collection comes from the work of a group of contemporary artists, who also took part to the realization of the collection in collaboration with the tailors of exceptional talent of the Maison. The show takes place in Venice’s Arsenale, ancient and historical cruise factory, as physical representation of ideas and place of creation for innovators.
Valentino’s biannual Haute Couture show continues to put together womenswear and menswear on its runway and, thanks to the contribution of curation by the Italian artist Gianluigi Ricuperati, the focus is the huge outwears. They are decorated with vibrant color prints and created by the 17 selected artists, who evoke the art of painting as the highest discipline of art as Haute Couture is for fashion. Nether-less, Piccioli is able to show his vision of innovation and pure elegance by punctuating gala dresses with mini ruffled dresses matched with feathers hats and leather long tight gloves. Shapes are minimal but at the same time fluent, they explode into huge dresses’ sleeves, hoodies sleeves capes, and long oversize blazers decorated with sequin or ribbons.
Venice was part of my vision from the beginning: it was the only place in the world where I wanted to present a collection as this one, as it is a contest where you cannot add or remove anything; the light and the energy of Venice are the perfect frame where I can immerge my work.
