It’s official; the Valentino Fall 2016 couture collection will be the final collection Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli design as a team. As reported in an earlier post Chiuri will leave the house to become creative director of Christian Dior.
The Elizabethan inspired collection they presented yesterday in Paris lacked the romance and ethereal quality of earlier collections, perhaps weighted not only by the severity of the Elizabethan times but their own long history together. It’s the end of one of the most successful professional marriages in fashion and amicable or not the end of a relationship as close as theirs must have been is always fraught with emotion. The choice of a heavy flat leather boot in contrast to the ornate laced sandals they favored over the years exemplifies the sentiment of the collection. A somber mood prevailed throughout, though in their capable hands a pure introspective beauty emerged.
I’m excited to see what they’ll do individually at Dior and Valentino and wish them both well.
