A woman strolling through the Tuileries, on the way to a meeting with her lover, or to pick up her kids, or just enjoying the open air, her light, delicately embroidered dress moving with ease. This was the rather attractive image Giambattista Valli was sending through the ether during a resort Zoom from Paris. Who wouldn’t want to be that woman?
“We need breath and nature, that sense of openness,” he said, adding that the feeling is one that will stay with him as a takeaway for a long time. What is also certain to stay is the sense of comfort we’ve become accustomed to during the lockdowns. Even a diehard couturier like Valli has to agree. “The business of sweatshirts and tracksuits has skyrocketed, the very idea of wearing a beautiful dress has been lost under the circumstances,” he said. “But I believe that now women would like to hear the sound of a pair of scissors cutting a piece of fabulous cloth for a beautifully tailored dress.”
Those women will find plenty to like in Valli’s resort offer. Delightfully feminine as usual, it blends his savoir faire (“I’d call it excellence, not luxe—a word I really don’t like,” he underlined) with elegant dynamism and ease of movement. “Even the T-shirts or the denim pants I’m proposing in the collection are infused with the cultural aspect of my atelier de couture practice,” he pointed out. The romantic silhouettes that are the designer’s signature were given a sleeker edge; his long, flowing dresses somehow streamlined and cut with a purity and lightness to make them charming propositions for every day. Embroideries and botanical prints were delicate and gentle; the intricate work on frills and volants was kept light, while fabrics had a fluid and breezy allure.
“I was thinking of creating space and movement within the dress,” Valli said. “I wanted to emphasize a modern gesture of effortlessness. I’ve always respected a woman’s body: A dress has to be inhabited with ease, it doesn’t have to swallow the woman who’s wearing it. A dress must feel natural, like being a part of her. Women aren’t billboards.”
