VALENTINO FALL WINTER 2020 WOMEN’S COLLECTION – PARIS FASHION WEEK

All humans are different, and are all the same: there is a magnificent contradiction in such an acknowledgment. What makes us different from one another is what brings humanity together as a one.

This collection stems from the desire to focus on the humanity of individuals to depict and exalt their feelings and emotions, despite age, gender, race and disposition. The codes of classicism and uniform dressing are the instruments Pierpaolo Piccioli chose to promote equality.

There is another contradiction going on here, and a powerfully human one. Uniforms are usually perceived as items that erase individuality. On a closer insight, however, uniforms bring the individual to the fore. Strict and efficient, the dress disappears, while the face, the gestures and the manners are truly felt, bringing out the human being in all of his or her splendor.

Tailored daywear fabrics in a palette made of blacks, blues and greys that flesh into vertical silhouettes grounded on vigorous shoes. Pierpaolo Piccioli portrays the humans that he likes equally, and dresses them in a harmony of shapes and textures that materialize a shifting and opening of codes. Known symbols usually associated with menswear such as tailoring, uniforms, black leather and the color grey, gain delicacy as decisive yet silent gestures erase dogmas with an idea of fluidity.

Sensuality shines through apparent severity and accessories. Couture in craft, the Valentino Garavani Atelier bag brims with petals, flowers, bows and studs that are a mix of the historic and contemporary Valentino signs. Black eyes, noses, mouths and hands narrate tales of the senses on cabochon-encrusted jewels.

By abolishing excess, as Marlene Dumas depicts by washing out black ink to portray an infinity of different faces, a harmony of differences arises.