Valentino F/W 09.10 Paris

[chessmess]

so bland
alessandra broguth such direction to the house
this is just reissues of famous designs

 

[helmut.newton]

This is an absolute joke. Whether you liked Alessandra or not, you can't deny the luxe she brought to Valentino. It might not have been extravagant in-your-face luxury but it was luxury nonetheless.

I see nothing remotely appealing or particularly luxurious about this. It just has this air of noveau-riche/kitsch around it. Fur accents on the sleeves? Seriously? One-tone/color suits and dresses? YUCK.

And I HATE their choice of colors. That awful awful green and that aged maroon? WHY? Besides, everything looked the same ie those 5 boring finale dresses. And there was absolutely no variation in the shapes of the draped dresses and those coats. It was ugly monotony.

God is there ANYTHING redeeming about this collection? Even the accessories are disgusting!

 

[Milada]

I don't want to come across as just a rabid Alessandra fan, but really, I see nothing appealing here. It's so drab, much more drab than Garavani. I think someone hit the nail on the head that he wanted his legacy to end with him so that no one could ever compare to him and he'd be the one no one could replace.

 

[thiago:)]

I like the dresses on Liya and Lily... The rest is just

 

[thejarc]

Looks like another disposable, random, cheap collection from NY. It's sad, that a Paris collection looks like a NY one.

These random accessory designer will never create timeless and endlessly beautiful pieces such as allessandra did.

Everyone could've copy the archives, like these two did.

 

[ilaughead]

I, for one, am kind of enjoying the crash and burn of the House of Valentino. This (literal and figurative) mess is all his fault, anyway...

 

[mdankwah]

^ you hit the nail on the head

review by Hilary Alexander


The Galerie des Moulages in the Cité de l’Architecture, crammed as it is with extraordinary 11th and 12th century church façades, doorways, fragments of medieval sculpture and columns, is a beautiful setting for a fashion show.
But, in the case of the Valentino ready-to-wear collection for next autumn/winter, perhaps for the wrong reasons. Sadly, the clothes were just too much of a blast from the past.


One wants to wish the new design team, Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pier Paolo Piccioli, all the best in their bid to bring the Valentino brand into the 21st century. But unfortunately, when there appears to be more of an energetic delving in the archives, than a passionate relationship with fabric and the human form, the soul is submerged, and the result turns out to be as lifeless as the stone statues which surrounded the designs.
True, there were moments of quiet beauty, generated by the duo’s use of potent greens, aquamarines and turquoises – colours which shone through, also, in their debut haute couture collection back in January.
But, too often, the trapeze-line opera-coats, with extravagant fox-fur hems and cuffs, and the over-formal, cape-jacketed trouser suits seemed to suggest a jet set lifestyle of yesteryear.
Best were absolutely simple Little Black Dresses – one of the strongest looks emerging for next season. Valentino’s came with a notch or a pleat in a collar, a twist of fabric at the bust or a fold of fabric, draped to one hip.

 

[Andymoon]

EWWWWWWW, that's not valentino AT ALL!!!

 

[dior_couture1245]

^^I hope all reviews are as truthful as Hilary's. Cathy won't sugar coat it, let's hope Suzy pulls through, but Sarah Mower will probably give it a nice review.

I wonder what will happen if these accessory people (I refuse to call them designers) continue to receive such negative reviews (which they certainly will). Will the suits at Val begin to take note that something is not right? Or are we just going to have to wait for the "Last Emperor" to die?

 

[nyc_art_style]

oh my god! they made Freja look pregnant!

 

[dumbfairy]

Hillary's review is absolutly spot on

 

[Crying Diamonds]

True, there were moments of quiet beauty...

My god, she sounds like she was bored.

Why are they continuing the brand? All that is expected of them is to copy the archives - the reviews are going to be the same every season. Just imagine how much time and money is going to be wasted.

I hope soon they beg Facchinetti to come back as so she can politely tell them to FO.

 

[TREVOFASHIONISTO]

I Have No Comment For This Collection

 

[christina126]

This is bad. Hopefully they'll be on their way out soon.

 

[tigerrouge]

This looks cheap. It's more along the lines of what an anonymous NY designer trying to channel Valentino would look like than the real thing.

Yes, it looks like the clothes are badly made, by a team that tried their best, but who don't (yet) have the skills to produce magic on the level that's required.

Some of these pieces look wearable and will be bought by anyone who doesn't have to think twice about the price; they'll simply be updating their wardrobe with a few new Valentino items, like they've always done.

But there's nothing here that truly warrants a sky-high price or indeed, praise. The team have gone through the motions of doing Valentino, but don't have the eye that the man himself had. And haven't yet found their own secret ingredient to add, that will turn the clothes into something special.

The question is, how many times will the new team be allowed go through the motions before (a) they come alive in the role and inject some life into the designs, or (b) they get sacked by being reincorporated into the backrooms again, in a more respectful dismissal than was shown to their predessor, because life's unfair like that.

Of course, there's always (c) this is what it's going to be like for the forseeable future, but given the revolving doors of fashion design, even the Valentino label might not tolerate that level of blandness for long. It might give them a longer chance than would be shown to most, but there will come a moment where something more will be needed. Who'll be supplying it... the duo or someone new?

 

[chessmess]

^well valentino really doesnt think its bad.
he loves their works
and tbh he seems very self centered, and that he loves it simply because they are reissues

 

[rip_ian curtis]

this collection is such a cliché! for clichéd people that is. just how bad can it get?

ugh! too much fur, feathers, crystals and overall tacky I-am-rich sh*t! no youth here, get the f outta there you accessory people!

 

[VogueParisLover]

I can't hold my tounge(or however you spell it). This sucks! I know that they will stay though because Alessandra got booted for doing new things(beautiful at that). I think the company doesn't want anyone to ever replace Valentino. I want Alessandra or Mr. Valentino back please. I can't expect anything from Valentino anymore...

 

[Dkammern]

At Valentino, where the new design duo are trying to put the house back on track, the setting seemed perfect: A long hall of historic museum sculptures, the daylight streaming in on the floor-level runway.

The show was "very Valentino" in that Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pier Paolo Piccoli have absorbed the label's spirit during 10 years in the atelier. But there is no comparison between the banality of fine technique compared with the emotional involvement of a true creator. The show, with its opening trio of elegant, colorful dresses, never sent out a shiver of emotion or excitement. These were just clothes, loosened up a bit with a movement at the back of a coat or a series of capes, one in a faux leopard that looked fancy, rather than feline.

The spun sugar of Valentino's luxury is difficult to define. But it is not ginger fox banding a hemline or a jeweled serpent as a persistent symbol.

Paradoxically, the most appealing pieces were not when the designers lightened up with a tracery of print or dip-dye color at the bottom of an evening skirt. It was when technique ruled the outfits, as in a gown (surely re-worked from the archives) with a beaded edge tracing the nape of the neck; or when the designers produced an effortless series of snug bustiers draped with the perfection of couture.

At this autumn 2009 show, it was hard not to think back to a year ago, when the previous designer, Alessandra Facchinetti, had sent a waft of modernity through the house, the models in their flat shoes taking Valentino metaphorically down from his pedestal. He is right up there again. And as long as the new designers treat the name with such reverence, it is hard to see how they can take a forward stance.

suzy's review.. not as bad as i expected/hoped it would be...

 

[ForChicSake]

very boring, no one seems to bring anything new or exciting to Valentino.