All images from Valentino Spring 2009 Haute Couture collection. All images by Marcio Madeira, courtesy of Style.com.
By the looks of it, Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pier Paolo Piccioli are very good students indeed. They memorized the Valentino template by heart and proved to their elders that they were capable of reproducing them accurately on demand: ladylike suits, ladylike coats, ladylike evening gowns, a rosette here, a pleat there and a red dress or two. Well done children. You may now go out for a recess break before you're called upon again to recite your next lesson: the Fall/Winter 2009 pret-a-porter collection. I don't mean to be so condescending but that's precisely how I felt when I viewed the Valentino Spring 2009 haute couture collection on Style.com.
Am I being unfair to the design duo? Perhaps. No one can blame them for playing it safe after what the management of Permira (egged on by the founders of the fashion house) did to their predecessor Alessandra Facchinetti. But here's the conundrum they face: while their slavish respect of the Valentino code of conduct will ensure their jobs (for now), their inability to offer any new ideas or creativity of their own will eventually cut off the oxygen supply to the brand. What happens then?
Sincerely,
The Luxe Chronicles
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