Pierpaolo Piccioli: «My love for Valentino»

«Perhaps the room that best represents the sense of intimacy between us is Mr. Valentino’s office, which is now my office. It has been depicted as a metaphysical space where only two dresses stand out: the 1959 Fiesta, in which many of his marks are encapsulated, including red, in conversation with the first look of The Beginning fashion show (see MFF of July 9). That room represents the heart of our conversation». Pierpaolo Piccioli thus told MFF about the spirit of the dialogue between his vision of the maison and that of founder Valentino Garavani, celebrated with the maxi exhibition «Forever Valentino. A Perspective», which can be visited until April 1, 2023, in the spaces of the M7 design hub in Doha (see MFF of October 28). The section Piccioli was referring to is Beginnings, an explosion of the iconic Valentino red, that color first used in the couturier’s debut Spring/Summer 1959 collection, which has been present as the Maison’s signature ever since and is now celebrated with the volume Valentino red published by Assouline with a foreword by Charlie Porter.

Drawing on more than 50 years of one of fashion’s most methodically preserved archives, the volume is a catalog raisonné featuring more than 180 of the brand’s most iconic garments and accessories, from legendary silk dresses and chiffon haute couture creations to Valentino Garavani rockstud nappa leather slingbacks and Valentino Garavani VLogo signature buckle belts. «This book should not be seen as a retrospective or even a celebration», Pierpaolo Piccioli specified. «It is simply how we work. It stems from the urgency to strengthen the relationship between the color red and the maison. The Valentino archive is a living ecosystem is a living ecosystem in which our treasures are ready to tell their stories when interviewed. This time we wanted to know how many red dresses we have and how much Valentino red is present in all our creations. This book is an answer to that question».

A color that carries with it a message of optimism and good luck, of passion and love, like that sentiment that binds Piccioli’s path within the maison of Mayhoola for investments and has always guided the work of the designer and his partner and lifelong companion, Giancarlo Giammetti. «Fashion is of course a very important thing for Valentino. For us it has been a great passion and a great love, but we have never been victims of it», Giammetti himself told MFF (see MFF of October 28). «Because being fashion victims does not only mean to dress badly but also to find in fashion the only reason to live. Seeing how so many designers only have that moment of fame that fashion gives in their lives makes me really sad. The day everything ends they are left with nothing. We, on the other hand, have always had parallel lives. Fashion did not replace love, passion, travel and good things, births, and deaths. This is the advice I can give today. Let us not create fashion victims, myths destined to be lost when they are no more».

Returning to explore the paths of the Doha exhibit, in the spotlight is the spirit of the maison’s founder through an itinerary of 200 dresses, both Valentino Garavani's and Piccioli's mixed together in an indistinct and often indistinguishable manner, in no chronological order. In the background stands Rome, the city where the ateliers took shape in 1959, depicted in its grandeur but also in its everyday strength. «My desire was to tell the intimate conversation between Valentino and Rome and between Valentino and myself, along with the testimony of all the people who have made the history of this brand», Piccioli continued. The impression is that of actually entering the ateliers of the palace, of exploring its secrets, of observing the faces of those who, over the years, have given life to dreamy clothes.

And if Beginnings represents the exegesis of the whole, like a canvas on which to give physical form to the imagined, in the A palazzo room, it explores how the broader cultural meanings of red are in line with Valentino's values. In 1985, a particular shade was named after the fashion house, and in total, more than 550 shades of red can be found within the brand's haute couture archives. A total of 34 examples are collected in the exhibition, exemplifying how Valentino red is truly a common thread that connects each of the maison’s creative directors, Alessandra Facchinetti, Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli, to Valentino, his vision of beauty and his ideals. Ideals that still guide Piccioli's work today. «From his living voice, I always enjoyed hearing his stories about fashion, tales of extraordinary moments from those who had lived them. I have always appreciated his more personal and human aspect, the one that best emerges in this exhibition», Piccioli concluded. (All rights reserved)