Mood board: In today’s frenzied fashion landscape, where images are consumed with incredible velocity on Instagram, designers are stepping back to refocus and reassess their output. In London, JW Anderson was fascinated by ways of perceiving, and how we focus on silhouettes and details. For spring, Valentino’s Pierpaolo Piccioli offered a ‘study on withdrawing,’ taking everyday silhouettes, like the shirt, pencil skirt and the Bermuda short, and imbuing them with the extravagant Couture sensibility which he is renowned for. Ensuring the ‘ordinary becomes extraordinary,’ the designer took the form of the white shirt dress for the show’s opening looks, reinterpreting it with ballooning bell sleeves, as a mini dress swathed in ostrich feathers, with a ruffled bib or oversized starchy bow. Elsewhere, his mastery in colour came in ruffled gowns in neon green silk georgette and fuchsia taffeta, and tropical landscape scenes, inspired by Fauvist forms, embroidered onto kaftan shapes and column dresses.
Best in show: The show’s opening white series had a particularly pared-back ethereality, both splendid yet simplistic in its construction. Elsewhere, a hot pink short suit had all the slouch of spring’s most popular tailoring silhouette, and a Lacroix luxuriousness when paired with a transparent blouse with a trailing pussy bow collar.
Finishing touches: There was an extravagant elegance in the show’s accompanying catwalk jewellery, which included bauble like golden cuffs and huge chandelier earrings dangling with encrusted flowers and colourful monkeys.
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‘I wanted to create a sanctuary’ – discover a nature-conscious take on Balinese architectureUmah Tsuki by Colvin Haven is an idyllic Balinese family home rooted in the island's crafts culture
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‘Concrete Dreams’: rethinking Newcastle’s brutalist pastA new project and exhibition at the Farrell Centre in Newcastle revisits the radical urban ideas that changed Tyneside in the 1960s and 1970s
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Mexican designers show their metal at Gallery Collectional, Dubai‘Unearthing’ at Dubai’s Gallery Collectional sees Ewe Studio designers Manu Bañó and Héctor Esrawe celebrate Mexican craftsmanship with contemporary forms
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Palace unites with Rapha to celebrate inaugural Tour de France FemmesMarking the first time women will compete in the historic cycling race since the late 1980s, this new collaboration sees Palace Skateboards and Rapha create uniforms for both on and off the bike – including an ‘outlandish’ pair of Crocs
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Valentino’s theatrical new exhibition celebrates the house founder’s 90th birthdayAt Teatro Sociale di Voghera, a new exhibition marks seminal designer Valentino Garavani’s 90th birthday, collating pieces from his time at the helm with ‘Valentino red’ taking centre stage
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Paris Fashion Week A/W 2022: Chanel to Miu MiuIn this extended report, Wallpaper* updates you live from Paris Fashion Week A/W 2022 shows, with rolling coverage as runway events unfold
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Valentino’s new Beijing exhibition explores the role of fashion‘Re-Signify Part Two’ juxtaposes items from the Valentino archive and the work of contemporary artists such as Cao Fei, Xu Zhen, and Nick Knight
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Scene-stealing runway sets from S/S 2022 womenswear showsFrom giant roulette wheels to Olympic diving boards and multi-city synchronized extravaganzas – our pick of the best fashion show sets from S/S 2022 womenswear
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Valentino Des Atelier Haute Couture sees fashion and art collideSeventeen contemporary artists enter a dynamic dialogue around dressing to create Valentino’s A/W 2021 Des Ateliers Haute Couture collection
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Milan Fashion Week A/W 2021: designers riff on romp and relaxationMilan Fashion Week offered a wardrobe for life after lockdown, by brands including Fendi, Prada, Salvatore Ferragamo, Valentino and Giorgio Armani
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Sweats and sequins: the duality of dressing at Milan Fashion Week S/S 2021Brands from Dolce & Gabbana to Valentino considered post pandemic dressing, with escapist and pragmatic silhouettes presented with aplomb
