oatmeal and berries
should be impressive
Paris: Pierpaolo Piccioli &
Maria Grazia Chiuri for Valentino
Spring 2015 Menswear
Workmanship? Yes.
Quality materials? Yes.
(Those white shirts aren't cotton or silk,
they're beat-to-shit wool.)
Couture-worthy detail? Oh, HELL yes.
But this collection is very slouchy (it's difficult not to mistake many of the outfits for pajamas) and almost inexcusably precious.
The pieces here are all pretty basic, to which designer's flourishes have been added, but I don't feel that the details elevate the pieces beyond the basics that they are, and in many cases, the level of detail is more of a distraction than anything else.
Lest I seem too harsh, there are pieces in the collection that work in isolation, but many of them have been styled in such away that results in nausea-inducing pattern-mixing; it's all just too much in a single frame.
Even more apropos: given the prices, why buy any Valentino from this collection if so many mainline retailers (I cannot bring myself to even type the G-word) offer simpler basics at better prices?
But there are some gems with the individual pieces. I'm coat-lusting, as usual, even though it's pretty clear that I will never again be that thin (did Valentino hire all of Hedi Slimane's throwaways or what?). The leather coats are so tonally muted that I might actually disappear into them (which is often appealing to me, truthfully).
By and large, I don't hate it, but I don't see myself in it.