Does Haute Couture become less haute and more mass if it does not make singular-sized outfits that come with mammoth price tags and an invisible note that reads: ‘take it or leave it’? Not quite. And especially not if you go by Pierpaolo Piccioli’s push for inclusivity in Paris for Italian luxury fashion house Valentino
For his Spring-Summer 2022 line ‘Anatomy of Couture’, the Italian Creative Director of Valentino has drawn much media attention for dressing up models who break the Haute Couture-defined age and size barriers. So the archetypal tall, slim, svelte, high-cheek-boned, waif-like ladies have made room, in part, for the grey-haired and varied-sized women who sashay down the spiral staircase and flashy floors of the salons at the Place Vendome with great alacrity in their high heels.
But when I hear Piccioli of Valentino say “I wanted to delve into the idea that beauty has nothing to do with models; beauty is about humanity,” with a heavier stress on: “I like the variety”, I pause to wonder why this bulb took so long to flash in the world of Haute Couture.
Almost every Haute Couture show I’ve attended over the years, especially in India has always had the maximum recall value for its most bizarre outfit. It would make eyes roll and critical mouths ask ‘oh, this can never work off the ramp’. And then, for every outfit that made sense and was not masquerading as a fancy-dress competition piece, they would never pause to exclaim ‘oh, how many women actually have the height, weight, legs and shoulder blades of the models to carry off that dress’. On cue, the designer would revel in the glory and glare of every outlandish outfit that would make its way to the glossy pages of magazines. Nobody dared ask how many of those gowns and dresses were paid for across the counter. And how many found their way to personal wardrobes. Those numbers were in perpetual doubt. It was widely believed that the twain of unabashed creativity and furtive sales shall never meet. But this has changed.
Picture Courtesy: Valentino
Clearly the fashion industry the world over has climbed down from its elitist stance. It’s obvious to Piccioli and others of his ilk that Haute Couture can’t survive by catering to the small niche of the high and mighty. That may sell the brand story but not really the product in the numbers that would keep the Brand wafting in its hallowed halls of luxury. For a Brand and its product to be successful you need it go beyond ‘aspirational’. It isn’t even enough to tell the world ‘I’m wearing a Valentino’, you also need to look like that outfit was made just for you. And the truth is, if you don’t rock that outfit, whether it’s Valentino or not, whether your take-home can afford it or not, it just ain’t for you. By and large, the clientele today, across the spectrum of age, ethnicity, colour, body-shape and size, understands this. And women yearn to break free from the clutches of Designer-definitions of beauty that were often transmitted by the model-muses who popularised those images. In the past, women allowed their sensibilities to be subjugated when they saw themselves in a mirror in Couture that didn’t fit. They fought anxious battles of self-worth. Not anymore.
Sure, Haute Couture does not aspire to compete with Fast Fashion in sales volumes. There is no doubt that it needs to keep its niche. But its edge lies in creating as many unique silhouettes as possible with hyper-detailing that would give cheap imitators a run for their money - simply for the challenge those outfits pose to their mass production machinery.
Maybe, just maybe, Valentino has hit the sweet spot. But it’s taken Mr Piccioli a trifle too long to get there.
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