“Romanticism is strength”, that was the underlying mood that Pierpaolo Piccioli infused into his Valentino collection this afternoon in Paris. Imagine watching a wintry garden in full bloom unfold, not hard for the guests who were seated in the vast glassed atrium that formed the show space. Not hard too for the clothes that morphed from a black and white colour palette into those Valentino reds, emerald greens, wintry mustards, embroidered blush tones and hot pinks. Flower motifs were “enlarged as exclamations”. The poppy was reimagined in an oversized print on a little floaty capelet or splashed across dresses. Kaia Gerber modelled a multi-coloured floral fluted sleeve dress. There was something of the Jane Austen literary heroines in the fluid volume of the looks: the strapless empire line gowns and the dramatically hooded capes. “This one is about Romanticism” Pierpaolo said backstage. You couldn’t get any more romantic than this.

Natalie Théo