Giambattista Valli is now a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres
On the day of his show, Anna Wintour presented Giambattista Valli with the insignia of the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in a ceremony at the Musée National Picasso-Paris. “I already felt blessed by the République Française because it’s thanks to France that I became who I am,” Valli said before the show. “But this was such a surprise to me. It’s another dream come true. It means everything to me.” For Valli, a Roman in Paris, the honour went hand in hand with a collection that celebrated the history of cultural exchange.
The collection was inspired by the Grand Tour
Wrapped up in his ultra-feminine silhouettes, the heart of Giambattista Valli’s work is always founded in the philosophy of broadening one’s horizon. This season, he zoned in on the 18th- and 19th-century tradition for Grand Tours as a historical point of departure for that message. “It was a tour of young people getting this sabbatical year just before the adult life, and getting an experience through cultures. They would go through Florence, Rome, Naples, Taormina and Athens, and end up in Istanbul,” he explained.
Valli took inspiration from Grand Tour souvenirs
As the original gap year, the Grand Tour would fill the suitcases of European youths with memorabilia from every stop they made along the way. “At the time, those things were considered souvenirs. Now, it’s formal art,” Valli said, gesturing at a moodboard with images of Roman micro mosaics and frescoes, volcanic cameo jewellery, marble statuettes and Turkish floral motifs. “All these Roman things are part of my culture, too,” he noted.
He wrapped it up in easy, modern cottons
Valli translated his Grand Tour artefacts into prints, lace and embroideries on garments whose fabrication and silhouettes cut a contrast to the historical ambience of it all. Dresses were constructed in casual, modern cottons from crochet to tulle and poplin, echoing the season’s taste for elevated reduction. “All these extraordinary things are interpreted in easy ways with easy fabrics,” he said. It injected the collection with a freshness and approachability that will hit a homerun with Valli’s young global fanbase.
It was a moment of celebration
Set to a calm, almost therapeutic soundtrack, the show – staged within Espace Vendôme – felt like a poignant cementation of the Valli-ness of Valli: the distinct brand genetics he has cultivated as a Roman in Paris through the last two decades, and the meeting between French and Italian cultures so integral to that success. Hats off to Monsieur Le Chevalier!
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