Rigidité fluide chez Maria Grazia Chiuri et Pierpaolo Piccioli

A show is in the end a very important occasion. For 15 minutes, it gives the designers power over space and time. It gives them a number of opportunities which are not present in other media or in other forms of presentation. I believe preparing a show is a very pleasant work. It is an opportunity to work out and realize fantasies in greater detail. Fortunately some of those designers often get the chance to work on a large budget, so that they can enjoy the medium to the full.

The SS14 Maison Valentino was an enjoyed medium to the full.

The models, in maneuvered wax and a low clean side part for a rich, beautiful look, w andered fiercely in sober chromatics: dark blue, denim blue, green and burgundy, as well as beige. These colors apply for both suits and for clothes (slightly) more relaxed, such as shirts, jackets and cabans.

The tailoring by the couturiers tamed capricious chambrays and denims to structure a geometric yet a fluid silhouette.

Floral camouflage patterned in toile de Jouy added un brin de jeunesse raffinée.

Last but not least, graphics as well as strips of different colors and texture between the front and back of the figure graced a .. perfect cut.

Codes are very fascinating, but when they’re used simply to create an image then the whole thing becomes a nonsense.

By using them freely, Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli have deliberately given a whole lot of the Valentino codes a twist. Heck, who like ghet tos anyway.

I’m the sort of person who has a great respect for the past. Whatever exists today came in to being in the past. That is why I find craftsmanship very important. Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli classy-esque collection was a tribute to craftsmanship; where minimalism was enriched by bespoke purism.

While still tied to the spirit of a Monsieur Valentino Garavani’s heritage, their shapeshifting couture unknots the conventional, the expected from L’Homme de la Maison.

In 1976 Michel Foucault referred to an “insurrection of subjugated knowledges,” knowledge that he saw as characterised by a concern… with a his torical knowledge of struggles. It applies, every six months to fashion. Fall Winter. Spring Summer.

In yesterday’s show, menswear was reformulated. There is a new men agenda set by Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli, concerned with institutional ‘power-knowledge’ and commercial expansion (new men flagships are to open, starting this fall in Paris.) The SS14 began a deep questioning of its mechanisms.