VALENTINO SPRING SUMMER 2015 MEN’S COLLECTION – PARIS FASHION WEEK

Freedom of expression as a result of a natural inclination to undermine the rules, simply by ignoring them, even though knowing them to perfection.

In defining the ever evolving form of the Valentino man, Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli look at this season inspired by outsiders and freethinkers; individuals who stand outside movements, groups and schools; artists for whom innovation is an authentic, spontaneous gesture rather than a pose.

They elicit an effortless masculinity, but also a subtle taste for silent sedition, and synthesise them into a poetry of renewed softness, yet another piece in an overall design style wherein fashion is conceived fluidly as a tool for sculpting the identity of the individual, and Couture comes in from another direction to support and define the quest for uniqueness.

There reigns a sense of controlled relaxation, moved by the energy of mixing the whole. The silhouette is precise, with soft, loose volumes.

Long polo shirts are worn under nonchalant suits in accumulations of prints sometimes geometric, sometimes fantastic: psychedelic stripes, bestiaries, landscapes, flowers, continents.

The idea of the uniform, with its ancestry at once military and utilitarian, suggests the craftsman, interpreted and translated in the choice of tactile materials.

The savoir-faire of a masculinised Haute Couture insinuates itself everywhere, generating shifts and transformations: Camubutterfly brocades swarm on field jackets and army-inspired garments; light coats are double knit and trimmed in leather; even the white shirts are made from impalpably fine wool, in a constant search for weightless solidity.

The layering of iconic, authentic garments combines formal and sporty, in the awareness that millimetric interventions can upset the overall balance, leading to genuine progress.

Existing schemes are shattered forever, yet without shouting, mixing prints, wearing shorts with a suit, using a windbreaker as a jacket.

Naturalness pervades the choice of materials: raw silk shantung, viscose blends, brocades, chambray, cashmere and silk, barathea with a masculine feel. The colours are organic: stone, ruby, mint, sky blue, sand.

Sneakers in viscose jacquard with hi-tech soles, lace-ups with thick soles, soft brocade bags and enamelled pins signal the expression of free thought: “Reality, with a dash of magic”.