Giambattista Valli’s Joséphine Bonaparte-Inspired A/W´23 Show

The independent spirit of Joséphine Bonaparte, 19thcentury Empress of France, inspired Giambattista Valli’s eclectic and uninhibited autumn/winter 2023 collection. Anders Christian Madsen reports.

It was inspired by Joséphine de Beauharnais

Joséphine de Beauharnais – better known as Joséphine Bonaparte – was the wife of Napoleon, Empress of France, and the muse for Giambattista Valli’s collection presented in the Musée d’Art Moderne. “I like her free way of living her life in a very independent way,” Valli said before the show. “She was empress for five years – not even – but she was the leader of her life. It’s a historical moment that’s very short but very powerful. Everything changed.”

It was all about freedom

Valli interpreted his royal muse in a certain independence of spirit: an eclectic collection, which freely morphed in and out between street-centric (and eccentric) daywear and glamorous eveningwear. “There was a new style where the body was freed,” he said of the era de Beauharnais characterised. “Everything was lighter, it was more uninhibited.” He translated the feeling in a soft, modern silhouette, expressed in dresses that were actually jumpsuits and plenty of plumed jeans and fluid skirts and flares.

It was a conversation between cultures

For Valli, a Roman in Paris, the mixing of cultures has always been an ethos. This time, he drew on the Greek-Roman obsessions of the early 19th century. “It’s something that’s interesting for me because it’s part of my culture, too,” he said. Going by the fascinations of the time, he evoked the grammar of neo-classicism in the lines of dresses, while mimicking the era’s fascination with Asian craftsmanship, micro-mosaics, and formidable jewellery in his surface decoration and prints.

Some looks were styled on male models

The freedom of expression Valli detected in de Beauharnais inspired him to expand his brand into menswear – or perhaps just “wear”, for as he said: “People say, ‘He took from her wardrobe, she took from his.’ But it doesn’t belong to anyone. It’s just pieces. You can wear them and interpret them. Sharing is caring.” The pieces he showed on male physiques manifested in a monastic tweed coat, an oversized lurex-woven blouse, and a Rudolf Nureyev-inspired knitted jumpsuit.

Valli mirrored de Beauharnais in his modern customer

“It’s a research into the women I like to see now – the women who inspire me today,” Valli said, drawing a parallel between de Beauharnais’s ahead-of-her-time character and the women he dresses today. “I like the power of these women,” he smiled.