Giambattista Valli Finds Elegance in The Gardens of Paris

For its Haute Couture Spring 2016 collection, Valli found inspiration in the gardens of Paris: the Palais Royale, the Jardin de Bagatelle, the Jardin du Luxembourg, and the Tuileries. Other inspirational ties came from Napoleon’s three sisters, Italian royalty in the 19th-century. While each look offered a glimpse into the romantic, sharp yet fluid movements accentuated every silhouette.

The florally focused collection included a few favorites: a deliberately draped macramé dress; a short black cape dress with a pink, white, and black embellished cuff collar; a silk crepe dress with oversized puff sleeves; a blush pink three-tier tulle gown with a black silk sweetheart strapless neckline; and an array of dresses donned in flowers and foliage, covered in hand-embroidered crystal detailing, off-the-shoulder sleeves, and showing off an array of cutouts, necklines, and waistlines. Casual hair in a low ponytail by lead hairstylist James Pecis complemented fresh-faced makeup direction by Val Garland.

Without a doubt, this collection’s surface textures that looked like fabrics and the intricate embroidery were enormous technical pushes from the atelier