Giambattista Valli is a man who knows a thing or two about excess — after all, some of his gowns require 400 yards of fabric — so it came as a surprise that the opening look of his fall couture collection consisted of nothing more than a black bow-tie bandeau top and high-waisted pants.
A closer look revealed that this may be his most extravagant look yet: the model’s fingers dripped with hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of Chopard rings set with diamonds, including a gobstopper of a 38-carat rock. Wrapped around her sandals were two thick glittering chains. Welcome to the fly girl, Valli style.
“There is a very strong sense of youth in this haute couture. Why? Because we have a lot of new generations of young girls coming and buying haute couture from all over the world, so that’s very nice and it’s very inspiring, and they have a different attitude to wearing it,” the designer explained backstage.
“They have that kind of sense to wear haute couture like they are wearing jeans and a T-shirt. They don’t have any complex. There is a little bit of ghetto girls — luxury ghetto girls, whatever you want to call it — but it’s nice to have this kind of coolness,” he added.
To cater to this new wave of couture clients, Valli introduced some pant options: a zip-front black duchess satin jumpsuit (the bling factor now courtesy of three jaw-dropping diamond necklaces) or a trouser suit and trenchcoat embroidered with a crystal check.
Valli even gave his girly cocktail dresses a comfortable spin, chopping the midriff off a bouclé tweed mini and framing it with crystals and feathers. DJ Clara 3000’s collage soundtrack added to the sense of rupture.
Still, you felt he was hesitant to commit 100 percent — a number of the models were still towing those tentlike trains. For sure, his tiered bubblegum-pink tulle gown will gather the most clicks, but it’s that cool girl in the black pants that has the world at her fingertips.