This afternoon, Valentino served up a show that felt more like a Substance-themed techno night than a fashion catwalk. The showspace was a red Lynchian-style bathroom bathed in red light—it was giving red light district meets the bathrooms at the San Francisco MOMA, with ‘toilet’ doors lining the walls.
Loos flushing and heels clicking marked the start of the show before models appeared from behind the doors as pulsing techno, Lana Del Rey, and classical music took turns reverberating through the speakers.
The collection itself had Alessandro Michele written all over it. There were moments of grandma chic via lace, frilled collars and back in the day-style swim caps, and ‘losercore’ references (a staple of his tenure at Gucci) via wide-brimmed glasses and high-waisted trousers.
In keeping with the show space’s club bathroom aesthetic, women’s bodysuits were left undone at the crotch, as if they rushed out of the toilets as the show started. Meanwhile, male models’ walked the runway in nude, Spanx-style shorts. It was giving skims if Kim was around in the ’40s. So it was fitting that the collection was titled Le Méta Théâtre Des Intimités, which translates to the meta theatre of intimacies.
Although many have noted the collection’s marked similarities to Michele’s Gucci, we think he delivered, as did the audience, who whooped and whistled from start to finish before punctuating the show with a standing ovation.
Images via Getty©
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