Ever so often we’re looking at endless catwalks, countless fashion shows, compressed fashion weeks or dull Red Carpets but rarely do we capture the spark and the essence that is Haute Couture.
It’s always in the details. The tiniest stitches, the smallest sequins and the shiniest beads. There lies the very magic of Haute Couture. As the Spring 2016 Couture Week has kicked in and the internet isn’t shy in sharing images from the defiles, I’d like you to take a moment and admire the wonderful details in Giambattista Valli’s Spring 2016 HC collection (if you want to see larger images, click on the ‘gallery’ thumbnail up on the right).
As you will undoubtedly notice if you haven’t familiarized yourself with the style themes of the new Spring Summer 2016 Haute Couture season, there will be plenty of white and a serious amount of floral decorations. The delicacy of the flowers are reportedly an homage to the sad events devastating Paris last year. There’s no saying that flowers would alleviate the wrong that’s been made in Paris and everywhere else, but it sure helps to focus on lighter, positive things than on the dark and bitter end of the present days.
Back to fashion now: Something that has a huge impact on me, way beyond the fit and the sartorial finesse of a Haute Couture design is the material and the close inspection of the garment’s details. The closest I got so far, is looking at these spectacular close-ups on my laptop screen. And they’re dazzling, I’ll tell you this much!
Words cannot add to the visual worth of these photographs and I would love to have a cup of coffee or tea with you girls, talking about the wonders of Haute Couture, the spectacle of ‘les petits mains’, the little hands behind every stitch, behind every added sequin and fitted ruffle.
Giambattista Valli was rumored to be one of the designers to fit the Dior bill left vacant by Raf Simmons. How many times have I wondered who was copying who or if they were design-twins, separated at their fashion birth. Time will tell, the responsibility that comes with a big fashion house seems to be unbearable for our beloved fashion luminaries.
Until the Dior enigma will be solved, let’s sip a cup of coffee or tea and scroll up and down these Spring Summer 2016 Haute Couture wonders (if what you’ve seen here made you curious about the entire collection’s look and feel, you need to check out styledotcom‘s reporting on the matter! And do come back and tell me if seeing the details doesn’t change your entire perspective!)
See also: How to DIY Giambattista Valli Couture veil with bow!
See also: More trends straight from Couture fashion shows!
See more: Haute Couture trends!
6 comments
It is a sad sign of times when we almost have to apologize for celebrating beauty, isn’t it ? Hopefully beauty will prevail, undeterred. That said, I love GV work.
It is a lovely collection, the embroidery is indeed mesmerizing. I love how he puts together things apparently unmixable.
Diane Kruger already wore one of the creations but unfortunatelly it wasn’t well received by the public. I loved the dress and the styling, as usual , I tend to go against the public’s tastes.
Hmm……… I’m not exactly ‘the public’ and never has been an example of the mass, but Diane Kruger looked not at her usual best in that Valli dress. Not even the original model looked good in the dress. The dress is also too short. but that’s just my opinion. The embroidery is indeed beautiful, a real eye-catcher. The styling with black, bondage, strap shoes was a huge miss in my opinion. I am so over these strap-bondage-shoes. Find the photos and zoom in on her feet to see her poor toes seems to scream for help, it must have been really painful. Her eyes were in pain too, she looked sad. But that’s possibly because she was missing her best accessory Joshua? Rumor has it that it’s over because she had a hefty fling with that Walking Dead guy (forgot his name).
The very first photo, with the text, is the dress Diane wore. I recognize the ruffles I didn’t like much and the gorgeous embroidery. The embroidery is my fave of this selection.
Yes, it’s a sad time we live in that’s why we have to keep on celebrating beauty. That’s what some people who fled from the war zones taught me,…….. that’s what a girl still living in a worse warzone taught me……. these people still manage to enjoy the beauty life offers. If we stop to celebrate beauty, in what form or shape, then there’s only ugliness left.
Theodora, may I ask what your nationality is? I am from the Netherlands.
Argh……as usual I would love to edit my reply. ;)
I am from nowhere and I am from everywhere. ” In reality there is no person, only the watcher identifying himself with the ‘I’ and the ‘mine’. ….. The fact is that without you, neither the universe nor its cause could have come …. I am nowhere to be found. …… Once you are there, you are at home everywhere.” I am a citizen of the Universe ;-)
indeed, pairing a flimsy dress like this one with bondage like shoes may seem like a good idea to toughen up the ruffles, but in the end, it’s just like you said, a painful pairing on every level. A see-through plastic boot/sandal might’ve been a more interesting option methinks. What do you say Adriana?
as for Diane and Joshua.. well, rumors fly by the thousands about her, about Angelina, about Will Smith and Jada, about Catherine Zeta-Jones – I remember at one point I didn’t even know if she and Michael Douglas were together anymore. Time will tell, that’s for sure!
I’m happy you liked my focus-on-details kind of Couture coverage. I have four more to follow inbetween my school runs and pan frying routines ^_^ so keep close, I’ll do the editing, just wave!
yes! beauty! let’s enjoy life and focus on that enjoyment, peace will come! someday. hopefully! <3
that peace ….’once you have found it in yourself, you know that you had never lost that’
thank you Theodora for bringing ‘I Am That: Conversations with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj’ into our attention – what a beautiful spiritual talk! much like what Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi used to teach.
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