Miuccia Prada has Miu Miu. Donatella Versace has Versus. Now Giambattista Valli has Giamba. As is the way with the offspring of signature lines, the new collection was identifiably this designer's. The feminine spirit, the emphasis on dress-up clothes, the embellishments—all pure Valli. What distinguished it from his main line was its emphasis—obsession, actually—on youth. (In that sense, too, Giamba is very much like Italy's other younger sister collections.) The girly vibes came through in the white point d'esprit tights and sky-high platforms with Gobstopper crystals on the heels that he paired with every look, as well as in other extras like rose-tinted round sunglasses and swipes of '60s eyeliner in the crease of the lids. Not that you didn't get the message from the clothes themselves: Baby-doll dresses, dolly bird shifts, and trapeze shapes, some with hand-painted prints of fruit trees and ribbons, others accented with thread embroideries, were all sugar. For spice, Valli layered black bralettes and briefs under the sheer looks. Overall, the collection was free of the tentativeness you sometimes get with a debut.
The doyennes among his client base will have to shop elsewhere (sorry, Mrs. Radziwill), but it wasn't a leg show from beginning to end. One of the prettiest dresses was embroidered in a black peacock feather motif and grazed the mid-calf.
