Scroll through Instagram these days, and you’re as likely to come across a sponsored influencer post as a photo of a starving child. Or, if the algorithm is in your favor, you might stumble upon one of those AI-powered videos that make the paintings of Johannes Vermeer come to life.
Faced with a daily torrent of unfiltered news, Giambattista Valli has found solace in the work of Dutch Masters. Their scenes of quiet, orderly domesticity fed into his graceful spring collection.
Guests including Kathy Hilton and her daughter Nicky Hilton Rothschild gathered at Valli’s headquarters in Paris, where mirrored plinths held baskets filled with flowers and fresh fruit.
The designer’s opening looks were equally artless: made of thick linen canvas or crisp eyelet lace, some were printed with reproductions of still lives, while others were embroidered with broken mirrors in wheat sheaf motifs.
Many of the looks incorporated wide culottes that looked like pannier skirts. Princess Eugenia of Hanover, making her runway debut, wore a version in Dutch lace. Others were made of sheer crinkled organza in a Vermeer blue, or shot taffeta with a clover motif.
Throughout, Valli’s love of nature was in full bloom. Hand-painted blossoms were magnified on a pinafore dress, while pink embroidered buds crawled over a cutout column dress in a trellis-like macramé netting. Bags came in the shape of glossy apples and pears.
“It’s not about an aesthetic, it’s about a moment of peace — a dream,” Valli explained backstage. “This is my way to give a caress to the soul.”
If crawling into a painting is not an option, then his clothes will at least let you play “Girl With a Pearl Earring” for a day.