Jun 19, 2008

Valentino on show again five months after retirement in Paris

Posted by : tootoo
Evening Dress Collection Valentino on show in Paris again five months after retirement.Five months after bidding farewell to the Pariscatwalks at a final haute couture collection in January, Italiandesigner Valentino is back in the French capital with a majorretrospective of his five decades in fashion. The exhibition entitled "Valentino, themes and variations," is thefirst time the Musee des Arts Decoratifs has paid such a complimentto a living Italian designer. "It is also a unique opportunity to be able to assess a careerimmediately after a designer has stopped creating," says PamelaGolbin, who curated the exhibition. The show was already in the pipeline when Valentino announced thathe was retiring at the age of 75, which gave an added impetus tomake it happen. The 225 models on display, almost exclusively from his hautecouture collections, were selected by Golbin from the fashionhouse's archives to illustrate the designer's distinctive style,which has made him a firm favourite with Hollywood stars andcrowned heads. While Valentino never claims to have changed the face of fashionlike some of his contemporaries, notably Yves Saint Laurent whotrained in Paris in the golden age of couture, he has always beentrue to his own interpretation of how to make women look beautiful. "As early as 1959, when he opened his house in Rome, he created astylistic vocabulary, which he has spent the next 49 yearsrefining," says Golbin. This is why she chose to order theexhibition thematically, rather than chronologically. "Mr. Valentino designs clothes that are fashionable but not afashion that goes out of date." Some showcases contain clothesspanning the entire half century, but it is far from obviouswhether a sleek cocktail frock or draped evening gown is 1960svintage or from one of his recent collections. "They are timeless,"says Golbin. The maestro himself, touring the exhibition before it opens to thepublic on Tuesday, thoroughly approved of the layout. Thejuxtaposition of "clothes belonging to the past and today showsthat I am consistent in my ideas. The difference is so minimal thatsome things from a long while ago could certainly still be wornnow." The first floor of the exhibition includes dresses from his firstshow in Florence's Sala Bianca in 1962, which wowed the Americanbuyers, and his famous 1968 all white collection -- when all theother designers were using lots of colour -- from which JackieKennedy, already a friend, chose a lacy cocktail tunic in vanillacrepe for her marriage to Aristotle Onassis on the Greek island ofSkorpios. There is also the little black dress worn by Monica Vitti inMichelangelo Antonioni's 1960 film "La Notte" and a recentred-carpet gown worn by Julia Roberts for the Oscars in 2000. But Golbin has deliberately avoided too many celebrity connectionsto select the pieces which are the most representative andcharacteristic of Valentino's signature. To convey this more clearly, she limited her palette to graphicblack and white and Valentino's fetish poppy red, which wasinspired by the sight of women in their boxes at the opera in Spainwhen he was a teenager, looking to him "like baskets of flowers". "The silhouette is always very strong. Movement is also veryimportant for Valentino, his designs are never static. The modelscan be still but look as if they are moving," says Golbin, pointingto the dynamic effect of white satin ribbons streaming from theback of a black velvet evening gown, the three-dimensional illusionof interwoven black and white ribbons on the front of a jacket, andthe way the hem of a black dress is gently puffed out by white silkroses. A second floor explores Valentino's fondness for florals -- teafrocks with posies of mimosa or poppies at the waist -- and animalprints, such as tiger, leopard, zebra and even giraffe for a 1960cagoule coat and pants in black and white satin. Feathers,geometric prints, embroidery and pleating, including his hallmark"budellini" silk cording, are all showcased. It is rounded off with a selection from his farewell couturecollection, a fitting homage to the Italian couturier whom thehard-to-please French fashionistas are happy to call one of theirown.
 
Continuing the discussion ...

TrackBack URL for this entry is :
http://portal.blogfusion.com/_ping.cfm?blogID=5750

Comments

There are no comments at this time.

Post a Comment
Name

Email

Your URL (optional)

Remember my information ?
Yes No

Comments

Bold | Italic | Quote | Paragraph | Link | Link ( New Window )

Characters left :
Input the letter/number code in the image to verify you're a human and not a spammer.

 

Related Entries

plants

Search

About The Author

Recent Comments

  • Watchesblog: <  ED Hardy clothing ,Breitling Replica Watches ...
    [ View ]
  • xiangxiang: <  Blu RayリッピングiPad動画変換DVDiPad変換iPhone 着メロ作成
    [ View ]
  • xiangxiang: <  Blu RayリッピングiPad動画変換DVDiPad変換iPhone 着メロ作成
    [ View ]
  • yuxuan1515: <  The biggest surprise on a busy night of inter...
    [ View ]