Giambattista Valli took to Rome’s spectacular Palazzo Doria Pamphili to showcase his latest H&M collaboration, which unveiled on the runway with a star-studded cast of It-models including Kendall Jenner, Vittoria Cerretti, Anok Yai and Grace Elizabeth.
“It’s indeed a collaboration rather out of the ordinary,” Valli told Vogue during a preview. The lavish collection united the Italian fashion designer’s couture sensibility with the mass-market reach of the fast-fashion juggernaut, in turn appealing to a younger Gen Z audience and addressing issues of fashion accessibility and inclusivity.
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The show itself was resplendent in baroque opulence with tulle dresses and dramatic red carpet silhouettes. The collection’s hyper-feminine elements were balanced with oversized masculine sweats, all-over leopard print pieces, Napoleon-inspired tuxedos and rave-inspired outfits of glittering audacity. Valli chose to present the collection in Rome, a historic meeting point of cultures, to make a connection to his collection’s diversity-driven, gender-fluid narrative.
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“I imagined the story of a Roman girl who after traveling the world — to LA, Berlin, India, London, wherever — comes back here to spend a fun weekend with her crowd of talented, artsy friends,” said the designer. “It’s an independent mental posture, a free-spirited cultural attitude which I’d like to support. We have people today who are building walls and closing borders, but the younger generations want to tear them down and live with a cultural horizon free of obstacles.”
The Giambattista Valli x H&M collection launches on 7 November, 2019.
Editor
Joanna FuCredit
Header image: Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images
