Maison Valentino, led by Pierpaolo Piccioli, returns to a live show in the heart of the Darsena with a forge of painters for the realization of 84 dresses. The inspiration comes from the creativity of 17 international artists.
The artists, Chosen together with Gianluigi Ricuperati, writer, director of Domus Academy and curator of the cultural program of MIA Fair, are Joel S. Allen, Anastasia Bay, Benni Bosetto, Katrin Bremermann, Guglielmo Castelli, Maurizio Cilli, Danilo Correale, Luca Coser, Jamie Nares, Francis Offman, Andrea Respino, Wu Rui, Sofia Silva, Alessandro Teoldi, Patricia Treib, Malte Zenses.
And with the participation of Kerstin Bratsch. It was surprising how the dresses from the magnificent Valentino collection “Des Ateliers” paraded in front of the installation “Idee di Pietra-Olmo” by Chus Martinez, commissioned by the Vuslat Foundation for the 2021 Architecture Biennale. While models walked the catwalk, the reflections of the colour of their dresses and sequins reverberated as they ran on the water.
The presentation concluded with a dramatic look, modelled by Rianne Van Rompaey, based on two of Nares’s large-scale brushstroke paintings, which she creates with her custom-made brushes. The hand-sewn two-piece garment—which took 700 hours to make, according to Vogue was a dress and a dramatic cape featuring a five-colour red screenprint on white cady silk. Nares had no idea that her work would serve as the finale look until the day before the show and after she arrived in Venice for the occasion.
“It’s a great honour to be given that place,” she said. And the dress was incredible. The delicacy and intricacy of the stitching and the folds and sculpting of the fabric—it gave me great respect for the work that they do.
The result appears fluid and deceptively effortless, almost as if capturing flowing water or a fluttering ribbon. “There’s a feeling of being moved by an unseen force, like an interior wind that I guess is the spirit,” Nares said. “It’s like a wind that emanates from somewhere deep inside. fully charged with memories, and hopes, and desires, and intentions, and surprises. It was fascinating to see the brushstrokes on actual fabric that was moving, it animated them in a way that was a nice surprise.”
Venice was part of the vision I had from the beginning: it was the only place in the world were to present a collection of this kind. It is a context in which nothing is added or taken away: the light and power of Venice are the perfect settings to immerse my work, wrote the creative director in the notes of the show.
Article edit by Giuliano Benedetto