To explain his new collection presented at the last major show of the spring 2018 season, Pierpaolo Piccioli starts from afar, from the rites and stories that have created the myth of couture, saying that he drew his inspiration from the impressive work of great designers like Lady Duff-Gordon. “The strange thing is that when you find yourself in front of these creations they are never as you imagined them. Well, I did not make copies of them, but I tried to reproduce my personal image of them, the suggestion of these masterpieces. Even more: spending a lot of time in the atelier, I realized that the most beautiful moment is a moment before the dress becomes perfect, when bows, ruffles and embellishments are still imperfect. I left them exactly like that.”
And it is right in the atelier, or better in the craftspeople that work in the atelier, that he looked for further inspiration. Piccioli did so by keeping in front of him a board with 72 envelopes containing the hand-written notes that he asked the staff working in the couture ateliers to write about the significance of the couture. Moreover, just before the show, Piccioli named his creations – Elide, Antonietta, Sergio, Irene, etc. – have been named after the craftspeople who actually assembled them.
The result is the allure and beauty of a collection that takes feathers, ruffles, and bows to mix them with daring and bold color combinations into flamboyant chic works of art. A desirable modern, yet dream-like couture that expresses rare grace.
Ilona Catani Scarlett