Kyiiiiiiie! Jennifeeeeeer! Lenaaaaaaa!
» This Wednesday evening in January, the tranquility of Place Vendôme is disturbed by the hysterical cries of a crowd of maddened young people.
We are at the Valentino
haute couture show
.
The Roman house invited some 600 guests including Kylie Jenner (who came with Stormi, her 5-year-old daughter, and her mother Kris Jenner), Jennifer Lopez (who continues her tour of the front rows this week) and the most influential influencer of France, Léna Mahfouf.
All these little people climb the stairs of the magnificent Parisian salons acquired in 1998 by founder Valentino Garavani.
“
It was in Paris that I learned my trade in the haute couture workshops, which has always represented the pinnacle of luxury for me,”
this fashion legend confided to us recently.
It is precisely to couture, the real kind, that Pierpaolo Piccioli, the current artistic director, pays tribute for the summer of 2024. “
I am very attached to its tradition, to its rituals, this quest for excellence,”
explains he said backstage.
Without being outdated, I wanted to pay tribute to our “little hands” - even if I don't like this term -, to these talents with exceptional know-how which make these dresses such marvels.
»
As in the past, the models take possession of the moldings, gilding and the large balustered staircase of this 18th century mansion.
They wander, haughty, to the voice of Maria Callas.
We can't help but see the legacy of Yves Saint Laurent in these bourgeois women with their hair pulled back, adorned with sculptured jewelry and big golden cuffs.
Or in these erotic-chic transparencies à la Newton, these silk chiffon ascots revealing the chest, this tailoring, this mastery of colors and their association.
The variations around green, from the grayest to the most garish, rub shoulders with golden yellow, Valentino red (obviously), cerulean blue, purple, lavender... We nevertheless wonder when faced with a wool and leather sweatshirt cut in a terrycloth style to scrub, facing this tulle petticoat which protrudes from a skirt suit which is nevertheless magnificent, or these pants split on one leg.
Some dissonances that we quickly forget in front of this successful score of gala dresses in taffeta, jersey, viscose, tulle, crepe and silk gauze, light as a caress.
Valentino collection.
Valentino.
“
An optimistic futurism
,” summarizes Kim Jones about her summer 2024 couture collection for
Fendi
.
During the time of Karl Lagerfeld, the Roman house which will celebrate its century next year, was regularly inspired by the futurist movement playing on the tension between progress and tradition.
Today, it is not so much this aesthetic as the desire to move forward that the Briton is taking back.
“
Kim always has this need to look towards tomorrow,”
confirms Delfina Delettrez-Fendi, great-granddaughter of the founders and director of jewelry for the brand.
So, when I thought about the jewelry in this collection, I told myself that there was nothing better than a pair of glasses to look into the future.
Hence these tailor-made eyeglasses or sunglasses (because they are shaped using a facial scanner) with white gold and diamond frames.
I like the idea of this functional accessory which is basically not very “dressy” but which is used here as a precious make-up illuminating the face.
I think it gives a
Blade Runner feel.
» Indeed, there is a bit of the spirit of Ridley Scott's masterpiece (1982) in this silhouette which is both futuristic, therefore, but also organic.
Pure and ascetic, the opening dress is black, a ribbed mohair “box” bustier worn with an aluminum-style Baguette bag and very beautiful classic silver crocodile pumps.
A skirt seemingly made of sequined fiber optics crosses a coat made of mini metallic ruffles knitted with fur.
A long amber croc jacket follows a metal mesh evening dress and ribbed knit models with a turned bra.
On a brown crepe sheath, micro-stud embroidery forms a trompe-l'oeil body seeming to slim the silhouette.
“
I came up with it thinking about the women we dress on red carpets - there are more and more of them, and it's great, it's so rewarding for a designer to see their creations worn.
But personally, being in the spotlight is an exercise that I hate, that I find so stressful.
» Most of the pieces were completed by artisans from the workshops who came from Rome to Paris overnight.
This very particular hand, which is that of the house of Fendi, is powerfully felt in this very edited parade of 39 passages.
Exceptional, these Baguette bags (whose ingenious shape and name were invented by Silvia Venturini-Fendi in 1997) in crocodile leather whose interior is lined with mink (from scraps).
Slipping your hand inside is an almost forbidden pleasure.
Fendi collection.
Julien Da Costa.
Robert Wun
, born in Hong Kong and established in London, has been showing during Parisian haute couture for two seasons.
His name circulated a lot last July, so much so that at the Palais de Tokyo, fans of unique pieces with burlesque, queer and gothic accents are there!
“
I started my brand ten years ago
,” says the thirty-year-old, as humble as his creations are exuberant.
This show is a way to reiterate my love for this profession
.
» Her “ fire
” dress
(made from silk chiffon painted with flames) was inspired by a documentary about a volcanologist getting so close to craters that he caught fire on each expedition.
The bride in white tulle splashed with blood-like red spots is intended to be a reflection on the symbolism of white and virginity.
A tulip skirt suit studded with Pollock-style spots embroidered with colored pearls with matching veil, fedora and pumps, meets a very, very well-made broken mirror-style coat, inspired by the character of Neo (Keanu Reeves) in The
Matrix
.
On the crest between costume and couture, these thirty looks are not aimed at ordinary mortals, but rather at Lady Gaga and Björk of the time.