Red. The signature color of this Italian couture house, founded in 1959 by Valentino Garavani. Red is a lucky color in China, a symbol of fortune and joy. Like a courteous and audacious homage to the Middle Kingdom, the brand’s creative directors – Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli – are signing off on a collection full of Valentino color and style, a collision of two cultures. It’s in revisiting it’s greatest classics that the brand pays homage to one of its most representative codes. On marvelously cut garments, red is overlaid on floral prints, lace, and other luxurious materials. Not just one shade, but rather different ones are used by the creative directors to show and give meaning to the different attitudes of a Valentino woman, even more elegant and gracious than usual. Indeed, it’s with a mixture of couture and rocker chic that they acquire the neural attitude of modernity. “Shanghai” is the manifestation of a woman who is both refined and glamorous, beautiful and witty.
Eighty seven pieces, composed like a fan of shapes and conceptions. The designer’s timeless elegance is obviously present, but the woman is also given graphic cuts, while the silhouettes become more sculptural. From purple to bright red, dresses, coats, and pants are available in multiple shades, in never-before-seen aesthetic configurations. The coats adopt an “empire” cut – tight on the chest and wide on the bust – the shirts leave you guessing as to what they’re hiding with a game of transparency and preciously worked lace. The pants are imagined in supple, tight leather. Finally, you can notice small, iconic additions that were near and dear to Valentino while a cascade of tulle and hand-embroidered silk dresses rush down the runway. Hundreds of red pearls in the shape of a rose add wonderment to these marvelously sculpted dresses. Available since November 15th at the IAPM Mall in Shanghai, the rest of the world will have to wait until April 2014 for this collection to be sold.
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