For its Haute Couture Fall/Winter 2020-21 Collection, Valentino’s Creative Director Pierpaolo Piccioli joined forces with Nick Knight to create a new dream, at once material and immaterial, that merges the human touch and digital fantasy.
The collection debuted yesterday via video, featuring fifteen silhouettes of extreme length and radical shape, as to flaunt the manual dexterity that went into making them. Feathers were layered, a petaled spherical structure framed a face, tinsel-like tassel dripped from sleeve to skirt, ruffles were piled high, and collars were created from seemingly unending tulle.
Liu Ye, “Bird on Bird,” 2011, Acrylic on canvas, 22 x 28 cm, Wang Bing Collection, Beijing; courtesy of Fondazione Prada.
In the film, models soared, spun, and spread their wings in the darkness. Across an omnipresent palette of white gowns, Knight projected petals, flames, and feathers, creating a poetic transformation. The contrast of the creations, superimposed imagery, and the stark setting, transports the viewer into an angelic dreaming experience.
Liu Ye, “Catherine Deneuve,” 2012, Acrylic on canvas, 60 x 45 cm, Private Collection, Beijing; courtesy of Fondazione Prada.
