(by Elisa Cecchi) After a couture show rich in historical references, the Valentino ready-to-wear spring-summer 2015 collection showcased in Paris presented a straightforward voyage through "Italian culture and beauty", according to co-designers Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pier Paolo Piccioli.
Their mood-board for the collection shown Tuesday focused on the Grand Tour - the cultural journey through Europe, and in particular Italy, undertaken during the 17th through 19th centuries by young aristocrats seeking an insight into the roots of Western art and history. "Nowadays, everything boils down to an unrestrained consumption of images while the Grand Tour was a voyage through emotions", the designers said backstage.
And that was the starting point for a collection emphasizing Italy's culture and beauty "as great values beloved by foreigners".
"Valentino is an historic brand, with a famous founder, and when we arrived we saw a landscape which was already extremely beautiful," Chiuri and Piccioli noted, stressing that their mission since taking over the label in late 2008 has been to show the fashion house's heritage from a different perspective.
"This is not a seasonal concept for us", they said.
That concept was not imbued in nostalgia.
Rather, the duo's regard of Italy's heritage, from antiquities to ceramics and interiors, was a poetic manifesto for contemporary women.
Dresses had prints and colors inspired by Italian landscapes - from Neapolitan pastel stripes decorating a sweater to Roman-style shifts or sea-inspired patterns with starfish, ships and shells.
Bold flower and arabesque designs, which appeared to be plucked out of an antique palazzo's tapestry, decorated colorful gowns.
Italian references went back and forth in time - some dresses bringing vivid memories of a bygone era, others singing an ode to contemporary travelling, such as the linen shirts with asymmetric necklines, jumpsuits or little apron-style dresses.
The color palette was equally versatile, embracing soft pastels along with deep brown, blue, red and orange.
Models striding down the catwalk could be pictured walking through Paestum's ruins in southern Italy, their feet clad in the collection's signature gladiator sandals and a Baedeker Guide in hand.
But their voyage could not be confined within a specific time frame.
It was rather defined by the art behind the astounding workmanship.
The craftsmanship was at times subtle, like the broderie anglaise on dresses and skirts, at others extravagant, as the feather-embroidered clothes, or nave, like the starfish motif. And it had the old-style quality of a precious trousseau filled with finery along with a very contemporary simplicity, well represented by short-sleeved blue shirts worn over a statement skirt or under a printed linen duster coat.
The collection had a dry romanticism about it to provide a Room with a View on a brand of Italian elegance that stays true to itself while constantly renewing.
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