It was one of the most congested and crowded fashion shows this Paris Fashion Week. On Sunday, Oct. 1, onlookers crammed in front of the Beaux-Arts de Paris, while crowds stretched all the way up to Quai Voltaire, over a thousand-foot distance from the venue, to get a peek of the celebrities that turned up to see what creative director Pierpaolo Piccioli would put forth for the next summer season.
Andrew Garfield, Penn Badgley, Kris Jenner, Paris and Nicky Hilton, and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley all drew an uproar as they stepped out of their cars. Garfield, dressed in a blush pink long Valentino coat, opted not to speak about attending the show, stating, “I’m striking.”
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Jenner, a close friend of Piccioli, was dressed in a black-and-white number with a black tie from the brand. “This collection was gorgeous. I loved every single piece. This is one of Pierpaolo’s best collections ever. He did a great job,” said Jenner after the show. She had previously stunned at the Victoria Beckham show on Friday night, attending with daughter Kim Kardashian.
Just like the Issey Miyake show, Valentino started off with dancers entering the runway in slow motion moves. British singer FKA Twigs began singing and dancing in step with the dancers.
White in many various shades are dominant in the collection. Opening the show — which was also attended by Florence Pugh, Heartstopper’s Yasmin Finney and Maude Apatow — was Kaia Gerber, wearing a white mini dress with a cutout on the back, yet done in a floral pattern. Gerber, who was just named the face of Valentino’s Black Tie campaign, also opened the brand’s Fall Winter 2023 Couture collection in July. Gerber and boyfriend Austin Butler were seen walking hand in hand to enter the show.
Themed The Valentino L’École, the new collection is all about the female body and the emancipation of it. Feminism is a running sub-theme throughout the looks with the idea that a woman’s body can be intimate and individual. Dior touched on similar themes for its show on Sept. 26. For Piccioli, women’s bodies must be free from male objectifications, their gaze, as well as from society’s expectations.
Instituting a new technique called Altorilievo, or high relief, Piccioli has created looks that appear as if the body has been sculpted, giving a 3D sort of effect. “More naked than clothed, this technique is a form of honoring the women — built around the body, she became an active participant in its design,” stated the house in collection notes. In the midst of a glamorous collection, accessories take center stage with flat shoes and the Valentino Garavani VLogo Moon bag also playing into this theme of a woman’s freedom.
“I want to use the right language. I don’t know that I have it, but I thought the collection was really beautiful, genuinely beautiful,” Badgley told The Hollywood Reporter. “It was nothing that was trying to grab attention as opposed to being the best of what this can be.”
