By Avril Groom
Catering only for the super-rich, it is insulated from the economic and social uncertainties that are making life difficult for top-end ready-to-wear and it has a new stream of young, eager clients who want to buy exactly what they see on the catwalk. So it has become all about crowd-pleasing and craft rather than creative angst, and along the way the beauty quotient has soared.
Never more so than at Valentino, where designer Pierpaolo Piccioli, now working solo, has moved its couture into a more modern era with gracefully elegant shapes, subtly clever colour mixes and highly-refined embellishment, never losing sight of the long, stately silhouette which is its signature. The mood of serious beauty is key this season, also in the demure yet exquisite grey coats and dresses – from pleated grey wool to embroidered satin – by Piccioli’s erstwhile colleague Maria Grazia Chiuri, at Dior, in the sleek, 1930s-inflected suits and dresses from Ulyana Sergeenko and in full-skirted evening outfits from Armani Privé, in black or navy tulle or velvet, sparkling with embroidery and appliqué in bright cerise and blue.
Many designs are gilded in subtle metallics, from painstakingly worked chainmail in Versace’s Ziggy Stardust-meets-Medieval-armour catsuit or crystal patchwork at Schiaparelli to sculpted-shoulder samurai looks at Jean Paul Gaultier and ornate gold bullion embroidery on dusky high waisted dresses at Elie Saab, whose references to long-ago warrior queens capture the Medieval fantasy mood that runs though several collections, and of which Valentino’s simple, monochrome abbess dresses are the flipside.
Others stride confidently in different directions – Alexandre Vauthier and Ralph and Russo both opt for a refined version of full-on, high-octane 1980s glamour, Viktor and Rolf (meditating on quilting and parkas) and Iris van Herpen (waves and water, with people submerged in tanks) honour couture’s role as performance art, and Fendi make the ultimate statement on fur – lace, appliqué and handpainting, all in forms of fur. Applause of the week was reserved for Azzedine Alaia in his first couture show for seven years, despite a hot hour’s wait – Naomi Campbell led out a parade of models in slender, graceful dress that captured the mood and, with exquisite knits, precious skins and delicate silks, could have been by no-one else.
