Although a resident in Paris for 22 years now, Giambattista Valli remains an outsider who relishes with his outsider’s eye the spectrum of French femininity that he sees on the streets near his digs by Canal Saint-Martin. Today Valli worked to transmit some of that spectrum’s rich variety into his collection, including elements he characterized as: “the idea of garçonnes, of effronté…to sometimes be couture and very straight…and sometimes, how can I say, to be bad characters in a good way.”
Valli’s mélange was carefully whipped around several decorative flavors. Pearls and silver beads served as oversized buttons on an opening epauletted cape in rose macaron pink and boucle sahariennes, and also made for piping on richly flecked mademoiselle jackets and matching high-split skirts. Later, pearls were also wrapped in choker tiers not only around the models’ necks but around the shoulder and under the arm. A Meissen-inspired floral pattern was embroidered on prim overcoats and into sheer lace dresses in black-and-white as well as printed onto tiered and flouncy mid-height mousseline dresses. A Chinoiseries pattern, bastardized Louis XVIII style, was etched in sequin on soft suiting and a short kimono dress as well as embroidered in the full black tulle skirt of a strapless dress. Cutesy black bows garlanded headpieces, shoes, and the back of little black dresses. The closing pink dress (echoing the opening cape) was also bowed at the hip. The garçonnes-inspired tailoring, a rarely seen category on this runway, was composed of fluted skirt jackets and overcoats, often double-breasted and teamed with diligently-pressed black shorts. The white-strapped, stack-soled black boots worked particularly well with these looks and also added that effronté edge Valli had mentioned when teamed with flou pieces.
Wilder touches included the veiled crystal headpieces and a little black dress whose neckline was guarded by a coiled crystal snake. An expertly processed snapshot of multiple Paris-girl paradigms, this was a collection delivered with great affection: an homage to Valli’s adopted home city and the women who walk its streets.
