Giambattista Valli: From Yoko to Rajasthan

By

Godfrey Deeny

Published
Oct 1, 2018

A freewheeling mood at Giambattista Valli, who celebrated his new financial status on Monday afternoon in Paris with a show that was deeply imbued with the spirit of Yoko Ono.

 
A passage through India with stops off on the way in New York while “trying to get to Holland or France,” like John Lennon sang in The Ballad of John and Yoko.
 
Ono´s white, three-piece gentlemanly suit from that song's early rock video opened this collection, though where Yoko jumped into a white limousine, today's model marched down a disused backspace inside the Palais de Congress in the western square of Porte Maillot.

Valli, legendary for his color skills, instead opened up with a dozen or so white looks; Moorish dresses with breast pockets; densely packed chiffon-ruffled mini dresses and semi-sheer, embroidered chiffon fencing shirts. All combined with zebra-print minis; gold embellished mini tanks and floor-length velvet big-cat coats. All ideal for “Honeymooning down by the Seine,” as the song says, and all anchored by Roman sandals trimmed with fur, snakeskin and metal tubing.

 
For evening events on trips to Vienna, then try Giamba's layered floral gowns in the colors of a Jodhpur scent market or black sequined pantsuits covered in pink lipstick marks.
 
Moreover, on a day when the great Charles Aznavour passed away, a show dedicated to artists felt right to be staged inside the Palais des Congrès, where the master of La Chanson Française performed so many times with so much distinction.
 
Perhaps his most famous song was La Bohème, about a young man´s love for a bohemian girl, captured the mood of the new pop bohemian style of this collection.
 
It was the first ready-to-wear show since Giambattista inked a deal for Artemis, the holding company that controls Kering, the world's second largest luxury conglomerate, to acquire a significant minority stake in his business back in July. At the time, eyebrows were raised that it was Artemis and not Kering that bought into Valli, though the CEO of group, Francois-Henri Pinault, said the reason was quite simple.
 
“For a smaller house like Valli, rather than a large global brand, it makes sense in terms of size that it is Artemis that invests, that way we can nurture it in the right way,” said Pinault, who sat beside his billionaire father François Pinault, whose eyes seemed to twinkle at this show.