The house of Valentino may be known for its romantic pieces, but for their Spring 2015 Couture Collection, designers Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli wore their hearts on their sleeves. Inspired by the lives and work of Shakespeare, Dante, and painter Marc Chagall, the designer’s went to work creating a collection that was worthy of literature’s greatest love affairs. With dreamy fabrics, rich details and a soft palette of pink and red, the collection reads like the beginning of a folkloric fairy tale.
Designing both figurative and literal interpretations of love—some pieces were romantic in silhouette and movement, while others had verses from their muse’s texts—Chiuri and Piccioli were moved to create something that would convey more depth and sentiment than their previous collections. "In some ways, you are flying when you are in love," the former confessed to Style.com. And it was this honesty that they focused on for the spring collection. Whether translated in verse or fabric, the emotion rang true from the first look to the last.
For a romantic collection, light textiles are all that’s needed, and the line was indeed resplendent with silk, chiffon, tulle and lace, but the designers also managed to work in velvet and muslin. For sheer and light materials, embellishments, embroidery and layers were heavily done, but through simple silhouettes and expert draping, even crimson velvet managed to move with the lightness of air. Patterns embroidered onto Russian-inspired frocks were heavy in folklore inspiration (taken from Chagall’s time in the Russian countryside), while the remainder of the collection seemed to have stepped off the stage from any number of Shakespeare’s tragic works.
