Giambattista Valli, the Italian designer known for creating oversized silhouettes while wowing audiences with his bodacious dresses, opted for a more subdued design approach for the unveiling of his Spring/Summer 2024 collection on September 29. Valli has been on so many red carpets this year, from stars like Penélope Cruz and Yara Shahidi to Priyanka Chopra Jonas. Perhaps this could be why actors Madison Bailey, Lucy Hale and Sofia Carson were front row at the show, plotting their next Valli red carpet moment following the actor’s strike. Also in the front row were socialites David Blasberg and Ivy Getty, and Olivia Palermo and her model husband Johannes Huebl.
At this year’s Oscars, actors Allison Williams, Sandra Oh and Carson dazzled in the brand’s extravagant silhouette dresses, while Angela Bassett dazzled in a yellow off-the-shoulder mermaid dress at the 2023 SAG Awards. And for the 2022 Red Sea International Film Festival, actor Marina Ruy Barbosa also wore an exuberant but shapely red dress.
White and black were strong colors in the new collection, a trend that you saw on many catwalks in the spring and summer of 2024. Wine-colored silhouettes were also in abundance, as were colorful embroideries on dresses. A unique touch was the round, patch-like print on white dresses. Paisley details are also etched into lace dresses. Flowers, bows and rhinestones add a 3D touch to many of the looks, while a Greek-esque and ’70s chiffon flow adds shape and comfort to dresses for the warmer months.
Models pose backstage prior to the Giambattista Valli Womenswear Spring/Summer 2024 show as part of Paris Fashion Week on September 29, 2023 in Paris, France.
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Compared to other collections – where flamboyance is not the exception but typically a Valli rule – the designer opted for fewer red carpet moment dresses. But the white off-the-shoulder dress with A-line and ruffles around the waist or the white tweed dress with a thigh-high slit in the middle with a bow as a belt – and also the soft pink dress with spaghetti straps reminiscent of a mermaid-style dress – will definitely be suitable for evening dresses.
Giambattista Valli and Anna Wintour pose during the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres ceremony at Musée National Picasso-Paris on September 29, 2023 in Paris, France.
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Later that evening, at the Musée National Picasso-Paris Valli, Anna Wintour, who is both a lady and a French Knight of the Legion of Honor, presented his own knighthood for his contribution to the world of art. It is one of the highest honors that France bestows on its citizens or foreigners. A post on Giambattista Valli’s Instagram account notes how Wintour said during her speech about Valli that he “had the courage to dust off the Haute Couture.” Also present was Diana Widmaier Picasso, granddaughter of Pablo Picasso, and officer of the Order of Arts and Letters.
