Speaking on the telephone from Paris as we looked at this collection in its showroom in Milan, Giambattista Valli sketched his vision of the Giamba customer as a globalized “Insta-girl.” This woman, he added, “can be somebody in Tokyo, Casablanca, Berlin, or Paris; it’s about her point of view rather than her location. She’s nomadic.”
All of the shearling and leather pieces in the collection were what Valli called “eco,” a slightly misleading substitute for faux. They were excellently executed. Many of the prints, said Valli, were inspired by his imaginary globalized peripatetic’s doodlings while speaking on a phone more typically used for social media.
Apart from the knee-high leopard boot that was its one constant, the collection was abundantly eclectic both in decoration and utilization. Valli mixed kaftan dresses, sportswear, Lurex tailoring, broderie anglaise, top-stitched workwear, denim, lace-lined metallic leather, ruffled polyester chiffon floral dresses, and fringed faux-leather bombers and pants—and these were just a few ingredients in the this-season Valli recipe book.
