One thing to know about a Giambattista Valli couture show is that, at some point, one of the designer’s poofy tulle dresses will graze front row guests. It’s part of the appeal. For his spring 2025 haute couture show, the particular dress that swept the narrow runway with visions of escapist fantasies was a candy-colored pastel-pink confection with a plissé torso, a belt featuring hyperreal fabric roses, and a fantastically large skirt. Also high up on the list of important pieces to fuel the dream machine: a series of gowns and coats with massive ruched skirts, which looked like walking sculptural cream puffs, done in electric maroons, scarlet reds, and pale, chalky pinks.
Back To His Roots
Many associate couture with fantasy, and for obvious reasons, Giambattista Valli delivers. First and foremost in massive, unapologetic, take-up-space silhouettes, but secondly in stories and inspirations rooted in far-flung locations all over the world. For spring 2025, the designer looked back to his own roots, drawing from his own half Moroccan heritage.
“When you see the immensity of all these roses, [Morocco has] the biggest production of roses,” Valli said backstage before the show, motioning to that aforementioned voluminous pink gown. “For me, that’s the kind of generosity of this gown.”
Megan Thee Stallion sat front row in a light orange silk organza gown complete with a hood. The outfit choice wasn’t all that surprising given the vintage inspiration within the collection. Valli expressed a particular fascination with 1960s fashion, including caftans, silk faille sets, lamé jacquard jackets, and embroidered silk dresses with collars covered in organza peonies. Of course, these pieces were reinvented through the Valli gaze, with a hyperfeminine, maximalist twist that is so easily identifiable as the brand’s DNA.
“When you arrive in Morocco, it really changes you,” he added. “You change your mind, and you change your taste in a way, because you’re very much attracted by interiors, by colors, by things that sometimes are not there when you’re in an urban environment.” On Valli’s mood board were photos of everything from rose fields to black-and-white photos and tiled interior shots. Plissé, embellishment and draping anchored the collection—from floor-length floral gowns to structured bows—and one shimmering beaded dress that could be heard as it swayed by.
“There is always a conversation that I have between opposites,” Valli said. “Big volumes with super-slim volumes, but everything has a soundtrack of lightness. Even the big volumes are always like fabrics that blow with the wind.” It’s true metaphorically, too: This collection had a lighthearted nature that was as heartwarming as it was beautiful. The bright colors, excess embellishment, and penchant for things (like bows) that make even the most jaded fashion lovers feel warm and fuzzy has a lot of power in a time when the world feels like it’s going a little bit haywire.
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Read the original article in ELLE USA.