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Giambattista Valli

Spring 2023 RTW

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Properties

Date: September 30, 2022
Location: Paris, France
Looks: 57
Brand: Giambattista Valli
URL: wwd.com

Critic Reviews

By Booth Moore for WWD

Giambattista Valli had a major moment at the Emmys a couple of weeks ago when Lizzo wore a mega glam red tulle gown from his couture collection, styled by Jason Rembert, to accept her award for Amazon Prime’s “Watch Out for The Big Grrrls.” She’s never looked better.

“She felt beautiful and she is beautiful, the match was like magic,” the designer said backstage ahead of his spring 2023 show.

Valli does like to dress a diva, and this season he wanted to take her on holiday to India.

“It’s all about colors, you can smell and taste them, spicy or mandarin, lemon and rose,” he said, pointing to a mood board with pink doorways, drawings of flowers and photos of his own personal collection of miniature Indian paintings which were incorporated into the clothes on T-shirts and in prints.

“I love the idea of women having no borders and boundaries, being inspired by other cultures, and being nomadic. Now more than ever, I think it’s very important to be open,” he added.

Valli channeled his love of haute decoration into more casual, day-to-night pieces using cane prints, crochet, lace embroidery, pearl strands and gold braiding on shorts suits, minidresses, micro skirts, bra tops and sheer tube dresses that could go from beach to bar.

Many looks featured bare midriffs, and some revealed thongs. Others had crisscrossing straps, cutouts and twist ties borrowed from swimwear. Some of the simplest looks stood out the most, including a lovely Indian cotton poplin block print sundress with waist cutouts, and a floral-embroidered crocheted top and skirt. Turbans that were as easy to put on as a baseball cap, oversize jeweled earrings and jeweled lace-up-the-leg sandals were fun extras.

It was a fresh chapter of Giamba glam, except for the occasional detour into the too-costume-y. It also would have been nice to see a nod to size-inclusivity on the runway, after Lizzo repped the brand so beautifully.

By Anders Christian Madsen for Vogue

Giambattista Valli is not a political designer, but he is an emotional designer: a creative who is sensitive to the world around him and reacts to it through the medium of his work. And so, it felt appropriate to ask the Roman dressmaker about the political situation in his home country, where the far-right’s Giorgia Meloni is on course to becoming prime minister. “It’s very scary and provocative. For women, it’s very unexpected. I was very lucky to live my life in a very complex way. I don’t think that’s the luck of everybody. This is always my search and my lifestyle and my answers to what’s happening right now,” he said, gesturing at the colorful running order that graced the wall backstage.

Because what’s unfolding in Italy reflects the un-nuanced mentality of the hard-hearted populist wave that’s on the rise around the globe, the single word Valli chose to describe the thoughts behind his show was poignant: “Emotion.” He presented it in an empty former department store by the Arc de Triomphe—“a white box you can fill with emotions”—and scored it with a rousing electronic soundtrack that kept building momentum. “The idea is to share my emotions with my customer–not only business,” he said. “I want to give colors with smell, taste, and textures, and inspire feeling in the draping, the lightness, and the billowing. You want to wear them, you want to smell them…you almost want to eat them.”

Valli found his palette in a collage of flower markets, buildings and landscapes in Asia, and Botticelli paintings, and rendered every exit in its own shade of joy. His emotions materialized in a look that evoked the glamour of the Roman aristocracy in the 1960s. Luxurious, louche and graphic, it was all about colors and trimmings, maxi-earrings, crystal bindis, turbans and big shades. “I always loved the idea of nomadic. But more than ever–and in my country first of all—it’s nice to have no limits; no borders. I want to see the horizon and get inspired by other cultures. Be curious, be nomadic,” he said. Valli demonstrated his hand-spun craftiness in a jacket and shorts covered in a trompe l’oeil print that mimicked bergère before the real deal manifested in various straw dresses woven like bergère.

Two-piece concoctions centered around the bra top, and gladiator influences in skirts and bejeweled sandals cemented the Roman mood. It was echoed in silhouettes that had an ancientness about them, which also fed into the notion of the nomad, like tops and dresses ruched, draped and twisted into themselves, or finely beaded fringe dresses whose shapes were defined with gilded braids. In a season that’s been hellbent on making a goth bride of us all, Valli’s front row—including Paris Jackson and Kiernan Shipka—seemed relieved to see some color. Asked if he wasn’t tempted to join in the veiled gloom, Valli shook his head and smiled: “No, no, no. This is a summer collection. Halloween is mostly in the winter!”