VALENTINO HAUTE COUTURE PFW SS19

“In order to change couture, you change the meaning of it and not the codes,” said Pierpaolo Piccioli of a masterful collection which reimagined haute couture for women of colour.

He thought about how different colours would look on the skin from the inside out, questioning the “nude” lining traditionally inserted into haute couture gowns which has previously been made for white skin. “Imagine the most famous picture of couture,” he said. “Of all those women in Charles James dresses shot by Cecil Beaton in 1948, and then replacing them with different faces. It’s not about the market, it’s about trying things from a different perspective.” Accordingly, the casting was the most diverse of the week – the final Beaton-inspired tableau, staged at the end of the catwalk, was a powerful expression of just that: eight of the 11 models were women of colour, lead by an empress-like Campbell.

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Courtesy of Valentino