Understanding another culture, respecting it while promoting your business and conquering the loyalty of new consumers is no mean feat as proved by the recent D&G Vs China incident. Yet Pierpaolo Piccioli managed to do it yesterday on Valentino's Pre-Fall 2019 runway that took place in Tokyo.
The event marked a return to Japan for the Italian maison: in 1982, Valentino Garavani was indeed part of the "The Best Five's '83" showcase in Tokyo (together with Sonia Rykiel, Norma Kamali, Kansai Yamamoto and Hanae Mori). The show was also the first Pre-Fall catwalk since the '80s and the first Valentino runway combining men and womenswear.
The collection was presented in a concrete warehouse next to a river where ships used to off-load their cargoes. The austere, essential and brutalist space was meant to create a contrast with the refined and romantic looks and complement the more practical ones on the runway.
This architectural connection with the collection wasn't the only spatial reference in the show: Piccioli stated indeed he was also inspired by the concept of Ma, a Japanese term translating as "gap" or "pause" that hints at the space or the interval between objects or structural parts.
The designer also mentioned his interest in the wabi-sabi, that is the possibility of an imperfect and incomplete beauty, and the idea of kintsugi, the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with a gold lacquer, a material that radically transformed the original piece into something even more beautiful.
These Japanese concepts were combined with romanticism, bringing interesting asymmetries in a collection that tried to fuse together couture and streetwear.
The elegant opening designs - among them coats, jackets and knit dresses with rows of ruffles - referenced Valentino's iconic red but also paid homage to the Japanese flag. At times the proportions of the pieces were slightly altered or Piccioli added details that made them look imperfect: linear coats sprouted cascades of ruffles that tumbled down the sleeves calling to mind Comme des Garçons' designs, while urban windbreakers and lightweight nylon parkas came with a faded and filmy lace-like effect.
Most of these looks were matched with heavy combat boots in charcoal black or ruby red, to reinterpret even the most romantic pieces in a urban and punk way.
The moodboard revealed more about references and inspirations: it featured juxtapositions between Western art and fashion codes and Eastern inspirations and featured a Piero della Francesca fresco and a kintsugi vase, Leonardo da Vinci's Lady With an Ermine sand a Japanese artwork in red lacquer.
The maison's archive was also a starting point for some of the looks, in particular an '80s red gazar dress with ruffles donned by Brooke Shields (View this photo) inspired Piccioli the asymmetries in the collection, while a trellis-like detail on a tulle top donned by Yasmeen Ghauri in the S/S 1993 runway (View this photo) was transformed into a monumental tulle coat and an evening dress with a fitted bodice and a skirt of tulle ruffles. Floral prints were also borrowed from the brand's archives and dyed in red and black.
The white crepe evening dresses and capes with black crescent moons evoked instead Japanese graphic art and calligraphy, themes also echoed in Pat McGrath's make up and calligraphic strokes around the eyes. The ankle-length dress with this motif seemed to be structured like a Möbius strip with a piece of fabric linking one sleeve to the bottom hem, but the graphic decoration may have been a hint at posters by Japanese graphic artist (and Issey Miyake historical collaborator) Ikko Tanaka.
Halfway through the show large logos made an appearance on casual jackets dedicated to all the fashionistas obsessed with design status, but the more interesting pieces of this section of the show weren't the branded ones, but the more functional denim designs (a modern interpretation of the cotton rag kimonos from the Meiji period?) decorated with ruffles and flounces.
The menswear styles were less groundbreaking, even though they featured asymmetrical pleated fluid and unstructured suits, tailored coats in tech fabrics and cashmere sweaters with an uneven hem.
The show also launched intriguing collaborations with Undercover's Jun Takahashi, Doublet and Yohji Yamamoto, for products that are currently available in Valentino's Tokyo flagship store to create that degree of exclusivity while showing respect for local designers (these collaborations were launched in partnership with Sarah Handelman).
More collaborations included the puffer jackets calling to mind Piccoli's designs for Moncler, one with ostrich feathers along the sleeves and a vest constructed like a kimono, and designs with self-portraits of Japanese photographer Izumi Miyazaki that appeared on dresses and parkas.
At very end of the show practicality receded in favour of red-carpet drama with see-through evening gowns in black or red, at times covered in multiple organza circles (a trademark of the Italian maison) or in sequinned scales or enriched with dense ruffled red tulle creating synthetic topiary effects.
In a way there were no great innovations here, but the good news about it regarded Piccioli's sensitivity: by filtering the elegance of the Renaissance, Valentino and Pontormo's reds through a Japanese sensibility, he paid homage without copying, using hints rather than imposing the fashion iconography and codes of the Italian maison on another country and avoiding to reference Japanese culture in a literal way (see the subtle echoes of a kimono in a puffed jacket or of a samurai armour in the tight tulle structures decorating the bodice of a dress), and engaging in a dialogue with other Japanese designers. Looks like the secret to success stands in firmly remembering your origins and roots, while keeping an open mind and heart to other cultures.
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