Fashion week, yes, its over. Thanks heavens for that. I wasn’t a fan of this round of fashion weeks. After New York where the boredom set in, I tuned off and went away on vacation, returned to even more of a circus, and it felt like it went on forever. We’ll get to that later. Despite my boredom with the month early on, two shows in the later part took my breath away; Chloe and Valentino. In no particular order, but Chloe first.
The day before the show we learnt that founder of Chloe, Gaby Aghion, passed away and that the show would be in her honour, it couldn’t have been a more beautiful way to honour her if they tried. It was in one word, beautiful, another, flawless. When the parisienne does chic, she does it with gumption and daring but never, ever skimping on the pretty or the romantic. This was french style 101; easy, breezy, beautiful, so to speak. I have never been a fan of the hippie look or the bohemian either, and several designers have tried but failed to make the hippie chic, but SS15 is as high fashion as the hippie will ever be. The materials were soft and romantic and fluid, a wealth of detail that did not overpower the looks, volume, and ease through out. It was a like that french saying; je voudrai flanér avec toi, oozing a certain sense of style and confidence. The styling was impeccable and did not distract from the clothes. Here was practicality with romance in the billowing dresses of summer, confidence with cool, oodles of those in the little shifts and shorts, a laid back kind of glamour with particularity, mixed tailoring with fluid pieces, I want to be that girl or hang out with her if I cannot be her.
Valentino. For the past few seasons, Chiuri and Piccioli felt like one trick ponies with their collections, from season to season, things remained the same, ever so slightly tweaked but same aesthetic, same theme…it looked dated after a while, and tired. For ss15, I expected more of he same, but that’s the thing about expectations, it often leads to the unexpected. Doesn’t it? The theme was The Grand Tour, taking the Valentino gal around Italy, one of the most enchanting countries, in my opinion, in truly grand style. The architecture, the landscape, the seaside appliquéd on chiffon gowns, a nod to the Caeserean Roman Empire, Baroque prints. There was a lot to love and lust for in this collection; simple shifts, grecian gowns, denim, folk and fairytale inspired…this is how to do italy (ahem, Domenico and Stefano, albeit in Paris) What was even more enchanting about this collection was the fact that even though it was different, it didn’t much change from the Chiuri and Piccioli’s aesthetic of restrained glamour, it was something fresh and fun and still glamorous, and that’s what we needed. Even in the simplest of pieces, raw emotion shone through as if the clothes were alive, this was happily ever after in fashion form if ever I did see one. A beautiful romance.