In a show live-streamed from Cinecittà, Piccioli presented 15 creations in exaggerated proportions
Pierpaolo Piccioli designed his new haute couture collection thinking that: “It’s time to put creativity back at the center of everything.” On July 21st, he presented the result of his work in the Cinecittà Studios in Rome in front of 25 people. Among them, there were his family and the newly appointed CEO Jacopo Venturini. It hasn’t been a runway, rather a performance that mixed Piccioli’s creativity, Nick Knight’s digital dreams, and FKA Twigs’ music. This blend, titled ‘Of Grace and Light,’ was also live-streamed to the whole world.
The focus of the show was 15 very long, virtually importable outfits.
They measure between 4 and 5 meters and are so majestic they look like monuments.
Piccioli in collaboration with photographer Nick Knight, took haute couture to new heights, quite literally. In the video, the models appear in a dark theater, suspended from the ceiling or standing on columns. All wearing flowing skirts and toppers with exaggerated trains all totally white, with a few flashes of silver. The choice of color aims at “focusing the attention on the way they are made, on the cuts, the volumes, the constructions that the seamstresses have molded,” Piccioli explained. “I wanted the thousands of hours of work on each garment to emerge”. Indeed, it took 4000 hours for an organza dress decorated with 400 meters of ruffles.
From London, Nick Knight directed the videos of the dress shot in Cinecittà. Then he used them as three-dimensional canvases, projecting us onto them images inspired by fire, air, water, and earth. He also alternated them with video interruptions, disturbed frequencies, and synthetic effects. The very effective soundtrack is by FKA twigs, who also collaborated with Valentino for the men’s fashion show last January.
The three creative talents have very different points of view. Piccioli’s creativity is full of emotions, Knight’s has a sophisticated and deliberately cold vision, and FKA Twigs a hybrid musicality. However, once they come together they complement one another.
Ilona Catani Scarlett