Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pier Paolo Piccioli for Valentino

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I noticed in every Valentino thread nowadays there's always be a love/hate relationship with these two. I'll open up the discussion with this Interview article.

Interview May 2011
Valentino: State of Grace
By Giancarlo Giammetti
Photography Mikael Jansson

Since taking the reins two and a half years ago as creative directors at Valentino,designers Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pier Paolo Piccioli have faced numerous challenges—not the least of which has involved building upon the enormous legacy of the legendary Valentino Garavani, who retired from the house that bears his name in January 2008. Mr. Valentino may have left his business, but he didn’t retreat from the fashion world and certainly not from his very active social life. Today Valentino’s image continues to loom large, both figuratively and literally, over the fashion empire that he and his longtime business partner, Giancarlo Giammetti, built together over the span of nearly five decades.

Chiuri and Piccioli, who had previously served as accessories designers under Valentino for more than a decade, were appointed in 2008 following the brief run of Alessandra Facchinetti, who took over after Valentino’s retirement and promptly moved to etch out a new, very different image for the Valentino woman, but lasted just two seasons at the helm. In stepping in after Facchinetti’s departure, Chiuri and Piccioli were thrust into the position of having to determine the future of a brand at across roads. The journey has not been without some bumps along the way: a debut collection that some deemed too reverently old-school Valentino; another, an Avatar-inspired collection that others deemed not Valentino enough; and their ongoing struggle to carve out their own path as a design team—and working to reconcile that vision with the history of Valentino—in a very public way.

Recently, though, Chiuri and Piccioli have started to hit their stride. Their Fall 2011 collection, presented this past March in Paris, offered clear evidence of why they’ve quietly captured the hearts of Young Hollywood’s hippest girls (among them, this month’s cover girl, Michelle Williams, who wore Valentino to the Golden Globes), while creating a new language of grace and fragility in fashion—one that contains a delicate balance of romantic prettiness and edginess that has gently seduced women back into kitten heels, longer lengths, sheer layers, lace, ruffles, and bows—and a lightness of being that is quickly becoming the signature for the Valentino girl of the future.

The day after the show, Chiuri and Piccioli visited Giammetti at Valentino’s castle, Chateau de Wideville, in Davron, a half hour outside of Paris, to discuss the burdens of stepping into the shoes of their former boss, the Last Emperor, and how they think they’ve found a way to the future by looking into the past. Since taking the reins two and a half years ago as creative directors at Valentino, designers Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pier Paolo Piccioli have faced numerous challenges—not the least of which has involved building upon the enormous legacy of the legendary Valentino Garavani, who retired from the house that bears his name in January 2008. Mr. Valentino may have left his business, but he didn’t retreat from the fashion world and certainly not from his very active social life. Today Valentino’s image continues to loom large, both figuratively and literally, over the fashion empire that he and his longtime business partner, Giancarlo Giammetti, built together over the span of nearly five decades.

Chiuri and Piccioli, who had previously served as accessories designers under Valentino for more than a decade, were appointed in 2008 following the brief run of Alessandra Facchinetti, who took over after Valentino’s retirement and promptly moved to etch out a new, very different image for the Valentino woman, but lasted just two seasons at the helm. In stepping in after Facchinetti’s departure, Chiuri and Piccioli were thrust into the position of having to determine the future of a brand at a crossroads. The journey has not been without some bumps along the way: a debut collection that some deemed too reverently old-school Valentino; another, an Avatar-inspired collection that others deemed not Valentino enough; and their ongoing struggle to carve out their own path as a design team—and working to reconcile that vision with the history of Valentino—in a very public way.

interviewmagazine

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Recently, though, Chiuri and Piccioli have started to hit their stride. Their Fall 2011 collection, presented this past March in Paris, offered clear evidence of why they’ve quietly captured the hearts of Young Hollywood’s hippest girls (among them, this month’s cover girl, Michelle Williams, who wore Valentino to the Golden Globes), while creating a new language of grace and fragility in fashion—one that contains a delicate balance of romantic prettiness and edginess that has gently seduced women back into kitten heels, longer lengths, sheer layers, lace, ruffles, and bows—and a lightness of being that is quickly becoming the signature for the Valentino girl of the future.

The day after the show, Chiuri and Piccioli visited Giammetti at Valentino’s castle, Chateau de Wideville, in Davron, a half hour outside of Paris, to discuss the burdens of stepping into the shoes of their former boss, the Last Emperor, and how they think they’ve found a way to the future by looking into the past.

GIANCARLO GIAMMETTI: So here we are, 12 years after we first met. If I remember correctly, we first met in a café on Piazza San Lorenzo in Lucina [in Rome]. You could say it was love at first sight because you both know I’ve always had great respect for you and, above all, I personally really like you. But thinking back to that day in the café, could you have ever imagined that one day you would be running a company like Valentino?

MARIA GRAZIA CHIURI: No! Absolutely not. It was unthinkable.

PIER PAOLO PICCIOLI: It wasn’t even a dream, in the sense that we were already delighted with our situation. I was working in a company for a brand that I liked, with Mr. Valentino, who was one of the best couturiers. It was already such an honor to design accessories for him.

GIAMMETTI: When did you realize, Maybe I could do that?

CHIURI: Frankly, when they offered us the job two and a half years ago. I was very scared, but not of the work—meaning, designing the collections. Personally what most concerned me was having to cope with the visibility. That really frightened me because everyone underestimated Valentino’s poise and ability to keep his cool.

PICCIOLI: It all happened very quickly. I had told my wife about it that day. When I received confirmation that evening, I was in Paris and I had to call home and also tell my mother. Who knows what she would have thought if she saw my picture in the papers the next day? When I told my mother that Alessandra [Facchinetti] was leaving and that they offered us the creative directorship position, my mother said, “You didn’t accept it, did you? Because if you do, you won’t see your children anymore.” I come from a family that isn’t ambitious and where other things are considered more important. But, of course, this was too great an opportunity, and I couldn’t say no.

CHIURI: Anyway, this job has many different aspects. It’s not just about designing the collection, but a global vision—you need to oversee communication and advertising and you have to manage your image and that of the company. Knowing how to juggle different jobs at the same time is what is most difficult.

GIAMMETTI: Valentino and I were perfect for all these jobs. But what I find interesting is that you didn’t want to copy us.

PICCIOLI: That would have been a hopeless task!

CHIURI: Maybe you don’t realize this because you established Valentino and were the owners for many years, but from the first moment we joined the company, we were at the service of the brand. We were not the brand, which is an anomalous situation in the fashion
industry and very egocentric.

PICCIOLI: There are also two of us. There were two of you, but in some way there was just Valentino, and you worked to keep him happy and you handled all the problems.

GIAMMETTI: Well, I also did some things on my own! I wasn’t just his super-assistant. [laughs]

PICCIOLI: That’s not what I’m saying. I’m saying that he was free to design the collection and not worry about advertising, the corporate vision.

GIAMMETTI: Let’s return for a moment to what you said about being at the service of the brand and not working for yourselves. The day after your show in Paris, there was an article by Ms. Suzy Menkes, who I greatly admire but who must have gotten up on the wrong side of the bed when she wrote it, because she said that the new collection lacks surprise. She said it was too safe and too close to the brand. Now, many of the journalists who write these things are the same people who complained when [John] Galliano’s or [Alexander] McQueen’s collections weren’t commercial enough. These fashion journalists are never satisfied. So how do you avoid being influenced by them?

PICCIOLI: You do analyze what you do and try to understand how others see you, but you do it from the right perspective and distance. We really admire Suzy Menkes because she always has an interesting point of view, and from her point of view, I don’t think what she said about us was so terrible. Today we believe that fashion needs consistency, so it wasn’t the right time for us to do a wild and crazy collection.

GIAMMETTI: Perhaps I’m slightly more skeptical and cynical. Unfortunately, the press—like many other sectors—wields such power today that if people aren’t strong enough, they tend to let themselves be influenced too much. I was able to stop Valentino from reading the newspapers and only tell him what they wrote. Perhaps Valentino was even more sensitive than you, but he was also more reactive than you, because he would have told those journalists to go to hell and would have banned them—as I did many times.

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CHIURI: I have to say, with this [most recent] collection, the idea from the very beginning was not to do “editorial” things just for the sake of it. Not clothes that were a photo, but clothes. However, at the same time, we wanted classic fashion—meaning, when a customer enters the store, she finds a coat or dress that is made so well that it takes her back to what we consider fashion in the most traditional sense of the word. Because in recent years, the image of fashion has prevailed over traditional fashion, meaning sartorial detailing and workmanship. But fashion designing means creating something using a special technique that might not emerge in a photo, but when you look at it up close, you see that it’s stylish. That’s a cultural problem. Clearly we live in a time where image is more important than content.

PICCIOLI: I think it’s much easier to make a splash on the runway than to design collections that are valid on the runway but also in the stores. Designing a collection is not just producing clothes to satisfy your ego. The great designers—Valentino, [Yves] Saint Laurent—always thought of the women who wore their clothes. Fashion has created several disciples who have confused—

CHIURI: Their intent: to sell clothes for women.

PICCIOLI: It’s as if fashion looks at the women who wear it as less valid. Well, if I want to do something artistic, then I’ll make an art installation.

GIAMMETTI: What about the runway show? What good is a fashion show today?

PICCIOLI: A fashion show is good if the clothes last for more than six months, because if they’re boring or forgetful or crazy, then they’ll never hit the stores.

GIAMMETTI: Again, I’m more skeptical. Today, in this confusion where the Internet reigns, we saw your collection not the day after, but three hours after it appeared on the catwalk. Does the desire that fashion creates really last six months until the clothes are in stores? Does it last four months even? There is such a saturation of these things that I wonder if Tom Ford isn’t right not to do runway shows and to show his clothes in the magazines, because that’s what people want and where they remember them.

CHIURI: Well, he certainly found an innovative way to present his collection. But I think the real problem is that there is a saturation of brands that have no reason to exist. There are so many brands during Fashion Week that are clearly uninteresting.

PICCIOLI: But what Tom Ford is doing is also a form of packaging. It’s not just the fashion show—it’s a negation of the system used to communicate with the system. It’s another way to present your work.

GIAMMETTI: He’s a new phenomenon. He sells himself, and people buy things because he tells them to.

PICCIOLI: That’s packaging, though.

CHIURI: But I think he has built an image that is very close to what you did for Mr. Valentino. He has become the brand.

PICCIOLI: It is different because Tom Ford is the founder of his brand. His image and lifestyle coincide with the clothes he presents. Our fashion shows—and those of other brands in general—have to express something else. I think that what’s most interesting about Valentino, but also more subtle, is that it’s about the spirit of a certain type of woman. If there is something most significant about Valentino, it’s that women feel beautiful when they’re wearing Valentino. Beauty is at the core of his work—it’s not just an element. Therefore, capturing that spirit is much more subtle and profound a job.

GIAMMETTI: But it’s difficult for the person who takes his place to capture that.

PICCIOLI: It is difficult—and you can’t do it in just one season.

GIAMMETTI: What I found in the new collection was that I recognized each outfit not because it was a copy, but because it revealed the world of Valentino. Then there were some details that were much closer to the originals. I don’t think many people understand these things. They don’t say, “They were inspired by Valentino of the ’60s or of the ’70s or by Jackie Kennedy.” Even though Jackie Kennedy’s famous bridal dress was there twice, no one even mentioned that topic.

CHIURI: I’m sorry to have to say this, but I think that people don’t know much about the history of fashion.

PICCIOLI: As we were putting together the collection, we actually had a board with Jackie Kennedy, Patti Smith, Charlotte Rampling, and Marisa Berenson. What we liked was looking back at the past to create a collection that did not refer to a precise woman, dress, or collection, but instead, a precise spirit. That’s what we wanted. But conveying that spirit is often difficult because people don’t understand it. When you’re talking about beauty in the ’60s and looking at old photos . . . Marisa Berenson in that white outfit wasn’t a typical beauty for the time, but her aesthetic beauty was ahead of the times. Obviously, to capture the spirit of Valentino and update the concept of beauty, you have to look ahead and seek beauty in the individuality of a certain type of woman. Valentino’s spirit of the ’60s meant one thing, in the ’70s it meant something else, and today it may mean something different too.

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GIAMMETTI: By which you mean . . .

PICCIOLI: Florence [Welch, of the band Florence and the Machine] on the red carpet was beautiful, according to today’s standards. Anne Hathaway is definitely gorgeous, but she isn’t an update.

CHIURI: For us, the Oscars were a summary of our perspective. Anne Hathaway was wearing a vintage Valentino, and Florence was wearing our couture dress. Both are gorgeous, modern women.

PICCIOLI: And both were equally valid.

GIAMMETTI: There was the collection you did that everybody thought was not very interesting because it seemed too much like a photocopy of Valentino. It was a couture collection [Spring 2009]. I was there with Valentino. When I came out after the show, I was a bit disappointed because I said it looked like Valentino, but not even a fresh version. I don’t know if you agree. Then there was the second collection that you did after that. Once again the press was very tough on you. You came out immediately afterward with a collection [Spring 2010] inspired by Avatar [2009], which was a completely different world from the previous one. But I really felt that both collections were not what I was expecting to see. How do you consider those two collections now?

CHIURI: I was very happy about that in the first collection. I think the first collection, in some way, expressed our love for the Valentino maison. Everybody said it was old-style Valentino, but I don’t think it was that—I think it was more in the image of Valentino.

GIAMMETTI: You told me that it was more a problem of editing the collection. The same clothes are worn today but the style is better.

CHIURI: Probably, but I honestly think that the dresses are not really old-style Valentino. I think there were beautiful things: the style, models, and ambiance were like old-style Valentino. But I also think that if we used the same dress now, nobody would say that.

PICCIOLI: At that moment, with that first collection, we were focused on designing clothes. We weren’t doing the job of creative directors yet. The collection featured some beautiful clothes, but the woman we presented on the runway was not our vision of the Valentino woman—she was the woman of Mr. Valentino himself. Of course, we don’t deny that we came after Alessandra Facchinetti, not immediately after Mr. Valentino. When Alessandra came in, she changed the vision of the Valentino woman, so at that moment, we felt we really needed to bring back the past of Mr. Valentino in order to move forward. We needed to reestablish something. It was a kind of starting point. I don’t think the clothes were so important, although some of them were beautiful.

GIAMMETTI: Why, then, did you completely forget the Valentino woman in the third collection?

PICCIOLI: I think the Avatar one was . . . Well, as you said, you love your children even if they are wrong. I think you also love your father, but sometimes you have to rebel before you grow up.

GIAMMETTI: What did that moment mean?

PICCIOLI: I think it was a moment in which we had to change. First, you have to go very close, and then you can go very far.

CHIURI: I’ll be honest: We were wrong. The accessories were wrong. The makeup was wrong. Sometimes we can be wrong.

GIAMMETTI: From my experience working with both of you, sometimes I clashed with two different people. Pier Paolo is more adventurous in what he wants to say and present. Maria Grazia, you are more matter-of-fact. Sometimes the two of you don’t agree with each other. But in this conversation, I think you both agree in all your answers. I haven’t heard a single different answer. Have you both calmed down a bit? Are you two more in sync now?

CHIURI: No, I wouldn’t say that. In some cases our differences have actually become accentuated. However, I think my practicality offsets his futuristic approach. I think if you take the best of both, then something good can come out of it.

GIAMMETTI: Can you do that without bloodshed?

CHIURI: We’re not violent and I hate arguing, so it wouldn’t come to that. But it’s still difficult.

PICCIOLI: It isn’t easy. However, at this point in time I think the future lies in the past, so in this moment—

CHIURI: We agree!

Giancarlo Giammetti is the honorary president of the House of Valentino. Together with Valentino Garavani, they founded the Valentino fashion house and he remained Valentino’s business partner for 48 years.

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Valentino: State of Grace

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Vanity Fair September 2011
"Great Inspirations"
Photographer: Normal Jean Roy
Stylist: Jessica Diehl



scanned by sister-d

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Tucked away on Rome's Via Dei Condotti, stands the grand Palazzo Mignanelli - also known as the Palazzo di Valentino, the headquarters of the famous fashion brand. Walking through the couture ateliers within, I can't help feeling a twinge of recognition. For these are the rooms, full of white coated seamstresses working away at long tables, that were featured in Valentino: The Last Emperor, the 2008 documentary film about the legendary former designer of the house, Valentino Garavani, now 79.

Couturier Garavani - who rose to fame in the 60s thanks to patrons like Jackie Kennedy - retired from his own house that year and announced Alessandra Facchinetti (previously of Gucci) as his successor. She lasted two seasons, but didn't take the house in the direction it was hoped, and, in 2009, was replaced by former accessories designers Pierpaolo Piccioli and Maria Grazia Chiuri.

The design duo are based in a wood panelled office at the heart of the historical Palazzo Mignanelli, their sleek white iMacs sitting on polished antique furniture. They are a garrulous pair, finishing each other's sentences, clearly immensely comfortable in each other's company. Whereas Garavani comported himself like a minor European royal, with a retinue of pugs, palatial villas, vast yachts and a world class art collection, these designers are casual and humble - and show no nerves at their task in hand.

"We knew we were filling big shoes. We were proud, but had a sense of responsibility," says Piccioli, seeming relaxed about their transition from accessory designers of ten years standing to creative directors. "It was a very good opportunity," shrugs Chiuri pragmatically.

Subsequently Valentino himself has given them his blessing. "He came to our last pret-a-porter show and he said, 'I'll tell you what you learnt from me. You've learned to make women beautiful and modern'. That's a great compliment from Mr Valentino," Piccioli recently said.

Their design nous has injected a contemporary spirit into what was a largely red carpet orientated brand. For AW2011, their collection moved towards daywear and was notable for their use of studding, mixtures of fabric-of -the-moment lace with leather and contrasts between delicate sheer textures with chunky opaques.

"We think it's very important for us to address woman who don't just work the red carpet," muses Chiuri. "It's not just about one moment in a woman's life, it's about many moments in a woman's life," adds Piccioli.

And yet, of course, the red carpet is still crucial to them in terms of publicity and showcasing their designs. I wonder if the whole Lady Gaga phenomenon made them feel under pressure to come up with more extreme designs for the red carpet, as say Armani uncharacteristically did? Chiuri points out that they have dressed Gaga twice, in Valentino couture. However, they did not adapt their lace and ruffles aesthetic for her - instead, her extreme hair and make up radicalised some quite traditionally romantic Valentino pieces.

"We don't feel under any pressure to become more extreme," continues Chiuri, "We are really lucky because we have many younger celebrities like Keira Knightly or Florence Welch or Carey Mulligan, that [wear our clothes]." "Often they want to be beautiful but not in a classic way," says Piccioli, "they want to be beautiful and individual."

This beauty and individuality is the spirit that suffuses the house's new floral fragrance - Valentina. The scent - a glorious conflation of Calabrian bergamot, white Alba truffle, jasmine, Amalfi orange blossom, tuberose, wild strawberries, cedar and amber - is warm, inviting and sensual.

"A lot of our ingredients are from Italy," explains one half of the "nose team", Olivier Cresp. "Alberto (Morillas the other nose) [thought of] the idea of [using] the white truffle, it's strange combined with the bergamot from Calabria." To Cresp, the white truffle's luxurious and decadent smell epitomises the modern women the company wishes to attract.

After two years development, Valentina the scent is as romantic and modern as the clothes Chiuri and Piccioli are creating. There is a rare delicacy to this house's creations, whether they be wrought from natural essences or cloth.

telegraph.co.uk

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Tomorrow in Florence, Valentino’s Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pier Paolo Piccioli debut their Fall ‘12 menswear collection as the invited guests of Pitti Uomo. The occasion marks the first runway show for the men’s collections, which the designers took over several season ago and have been quietly showing by appointment in their Place Vendome showroom—where it has been a quiet highlight of the Paris collections—ever since. In advance of tomorrow’s show, Chiuri and Piccioli spoke to Style.com about their couture sensibility, the idea of individual luxury, and their quest for the perfect piece. They’ve also shared two sketches of pieces that will hit the catwalk tomorrow; check back for the full looks, as well as Tim Blanks’ review from Pitti.
—Matthew Schneier

How do you approach designing menswear differently from designing womenswear? How do you see the Valentino man in relation to the Valentino woman?
Menswear in our vision is very close to the idea of personal and private luxury such as with the haute couture. It is a different result, of course, but the approach is quite similar… Volume and proportions are contemporary but with an echo of memory of sartorial and couture culture, silhouettes are cutting edge and sharp, constructions are very precise, maintaining lightness. [The Valentino man and the Valentino woman] share the same culture of couture and same spirit of effortless elegance.

How did you begin designing this season: Were there specific inspirations or ideas in mind, and how do these compare to what you’ve done in seasons past?
The world of couture. La sala Bianca. Antonioni and Pasolini. Mastroianni and Roman style. In the other collection, we were concentrated on translating the culture of couture in sportswear and modern wardrobe for contemporary men. In this collection, we aim to define our men with a more cinematographic attitude.

How did you research this collection? Does it relate to Valentino’s archival menswear, or is it more of a break with what’s come before?
This collection is close to the values of beauty and luxury of the brand, but our man is definitely far from what [he] was before. Beauty is individual and luxury is understated. You need a workmanship culture to buy a couture piece as you would need it to buy a sartorial jacket with the kind of innovation that takes place when tradition meets technology.

You’ve been showing your men’s collection in the showroom for the past several seasons. What do you have planned for your first presentation? Will it be a static presentation or a runway show? How are you working to incorporate Florence into the presentation?
A runway show, but with the intimate feeling of a couture show. Digital screens will give a new perspective and balance to the frescoes of the baroque rooms of Palazzo Corsini.

What do you think is the ideal outfit for a man? Do you feel that the ideal men’s outfit has changed over the years?
The perfect suit. The perfect shirt. The perfect tie. The perfect shoes. The perfect outerwear. The perfect denim. To be perfect, everything has to be authentic, but with the perfect proportions and a subtle something—everything is just about the obsession for perfection!

style.com

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The last two RTW and the last two Couture collections have been STUNNING. I think these two have come in their own at Valentino and re-established it as a classical, romantic, and yet totally modern. and just a tad bit subversive, house.

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Brit Marling, Lily Collins and the Valentino Group attend the "Schiaparelli And Prada: Impossible Conversations" Costume Institute Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 7, 2012 in New York City. (May 6, 2012 - Source: Larry Busacca/Getty Images North America)