Backstage at Valli
Couture in Paris
When Kendall Jenner stepped out at the Amfar
Cannes Gala at this year’s film festival the look was instantly
recognisable as a signature Valli piece,
only this time there was a difference: the dress was not part of his couture
collection, but the first glimpse of his new, groundbreaking, about-to-launch range for H&M. The
High Street giant are no strangers to collaborations, having worked with Stella McCartney and Versace in the past, but this time
around the buzz has been deafening.
Firstly, Giambattista and H&M put just as
much into showing this collection as any couture name would: the recent catwalk
extravaganza at Palazzo Doria Pamphij in
Rome was simply breathtaking. The Front Row was an electic mix, waiting with
anticipation to see what a master who charges tens of thousands of pounds for a
made-to-measure piece would produce for one of the world’s most inexpensive
fashion chains.
Valli answered in style, and then some. Of
course, there were the frothy, signature gowns, but there were also a huge,
extended range of pieces including embellished coats, hoodies and logo T’s,
ruffled blouses and sleek trousers to add a bit of tailoring to the mix.
The
collection can simply described as rich in terms of colours, finishes and
impression. They are clothes to be noticed in, and while there are separate
collections for women and men, Valli is
keen to point out that many of the pieces are interchangeable. It’s being
sold as fashion without boundaries, and it certainly feels like new territory.
And Valli could never be thought of as every day, as he said recently, “I don’t
dress people to go to work.”
We noticed
that Valli used a really diverse range
of models both in his show and his press pics for the range. We also fell
in love with accessories. Often,
with collaborations they tend to get a little overlooked and are not the best
in terms of quality, but this time out they are just beautiful.
You can
choose your own skin finish to go with the range, as it’s certainly not a
one-look affair, but we did notice that some of the models had really subtle
tans and gorgeous glows going on. We. Are. Sold.
So when we
get our hands on our own pieces we are breaking open our Fake Bake x Spectrum Go With The Glow Gift Sets a few weeks early,
because it’s a Valli-based beauty
emergency. You get to choose between three of your fave Fake Bake self tans - we are going for Double Shot Espresso,
because it has an Italian-in-Paris feel about it. Then we’ll be dusting on our
infamous Fake Bake Bronzer with the
legendary Spectrum A01 Brush. If you’re going for the GV look then you need
to be all in.
There are
literally just a handful of sleeps to go, and then we’ll be there, elbows at
the ready and phones charged and ready for action, to see what we can pick up.
And as for that Valli admission that
he doesn’t dress people for work? Well, he’s never met Team Fake Bake before because we will be wearing every piece we can
get our hands on to the office.
A huge,
tiered, frothy pink dress is easy for KJ to wear in Cannes. But us fashion
bravehearts will be wearing ours on the bus to get into work on time in style.
We’re not
sure what the great Valli maestro
himself might think but if you know us, then we never really like doing what
we’re told, do we?
All Fake Bake products
available from www.fakebake.co.uk
The Giambattista Valli
X H&M collaboration launches 7th November 2019 in store and online at www.hm.com
All additional images
courtesy of H&M
No comments
Post a Comment