Valentino Spring/Summer 2024 Celebrates the Female Form
Through daring cutouts and fluid shapes, the fabric and the body converse, resulting in a collection that's an ode to the female figure.
The crowd fell silent at the Valentino Spring/Summer 2024 show as dancers stalked into the room at the École Beaux-Arts de Paris, crouching low to the ground as they made their way to the center platforms. Among these dancers was British singer FKA Twigs, who delivered a beautiful vocal performance throughout the duration of the show. Accompanying Twigs was an ambient techno track with a strong, steady beat to which dancers performed and models walked.
A few short moments later, in walked Kaia Gerber wearing an intricately crafted white mini dress with sculptural cutouts. The vision for this show was "deceptively simple and pure," as stated by the House, with each look imbued with a contemporary iteration of the classic Valentino style.
Valentino returned to its roots this season, both in the choice of location—with École Beaux-Arts de Paris being the school where founder Valentino Garavani studied fashion—as well as the focus on savoir-faire that the brand is known for. The House continued to display its eye for craftsmanship and heightened expectations with the new "Altorilievo" technique, which, according to the House, "sculpts fabric into seamless three dimensions."
Bold cutouts were a prominent feature in the collection, offering tasteful, refined glimpses of the human form underneath the clothing. Creative Director Pierpaolo Piccioli's vision for this collection included celebrating the female body, done in an artistic fashion. Through the inclusion of the cutouts, the fabric becomes one with the skin, showing glimpses of the human body like miniature windows. But the celebration of the female form was presented across multiple facets: abbreviated skirts; clean-cut lines to outline the body; figure-hugging maxi dresses; fluid gowns representing the lightness found within; and plunging necklines.
Other standout pieces included the inclusion of denim and untouched tailored pieces like crisp button-downs and wide blazers. As for the colors, white was a protagonist in the collection, reflecting the "purity" of women, before other hues of green and Valentino's signature red revealed themselves. A romantically elegant collection, it was a beautiful homage to the female form through a modernly artistic lens, stripping away the societally placed sexuality tied to women's bodies and celebrating the skin for its natural beauty.
