s designer Pierpaolo Piccioli prepared to
show his first collection as sole creative
director of Valentino last October, after
nearly a decade of sharing that position with
his longtime design partner, Maria Grazia
Chiuri, the biggest question he faced was
this: how would he stand on his own?
Few people in fashion knew of the duo as anything less than a
perfectly matched partnership. So when Chiuri was appointed artistic
director of Dior last year and Piccioli took over at Valentino, there
was naturally a great deal of curiosity about what the iconic Italian
brand’s new direction would be.
Piccioli established himself brilliantly, with a spring collection that
combined the ethereal with a touch of the surreal, resulting in what
was undoubtedly one of the highlights of the Paris season. Cascading
dresses made of lace, stunning pink capes, sweet ballet sandals
and charming miniaturised bags all belied a hidden undercurrent
of darkness—shown in prints created by the English designer Zandra
Rhodes, which she based in part on the wildly captivating paintings
of Hieronymus Bosch. If you looked closely, you saw that earrings
were shaped like tiny daggers.
“This collection changed my approach to fashion,” Piccioli told
me when we caught up in December. “I went back to my aesthetic
roots. Back to the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the
Renaissance, which is really part of my Italian culture.”
Shortly after the Paris show, I’m happy to say, I had the opportunity
to introduce Piccioli to another friend of mine, Christy Turlington
Burns. The supermodel and maternal health advocate occasionally
dips her toes back into fashion’s waters, and so it was no surprise to
me when Piccioli immediately asked Turlington Burns to collaborate
on his first solo Valentino campaign, which was photographed in New
York. And when I heard Turlington Burns would then be heading to
Rome—home to Valentino headquarters—to meet the pope, I asked
her and Piccioli to come together once again for a meeting
of the minds, documented here in a joint interview.LAURA BROWN: Ciao, you two! I’m looking at these beautiful
pictures you shot together at the Valentino atelier, and Christy,
thanks for squeezing this in on your way to the Vatican! I have to
ask: was the pope aware that you formed, with Naomi Campbell
and Linda Evangelista, the original trinity of supermodels?
CHRISTY TURLINGTON BURNS: Ah-ha-ha! If the Vatican even
heard that, I probably wouldn’t have been welcome anywhere near
him! Blasphemous! Oh my goodness. I will tell you, once, many years
ago [in 1995], I actually did a Valentino campaign that was photographed
by Herb Ritts, where I am dressed and the men are naked.
PIERPAOLO PICCIOLI: Oh, I remember it!
CTB: I was told, though, that the Vatican was not very happy
with that campaign.
PP: All the men were in the back.Valentino velvet
brocade coat and
satin crépon shirt
A
The Look
JUNE 2017 In STYLE 47