The year behind us has been unpredictable and incredibly turbulent, and pre-fall as the last season of the annual fashion calendar was no different. Many gorgeous collections
were presented across the globe but the behind the scenes drama is what kept any real fashion aficionado on the edge of his seat.
After nearly two years, the tenure of Raf Simons as a chief creative officer at Calvin Klein has come to an end, much to the dismay of his passionate fans. The news didn’t come
as a shock however, as reports began to emerge that executives of PVH corp.(Calvin Klein’s parent company) were doubting the appeal of the brand’s offering.
On paper the pairing may have seemed ideal, as Raf Simons is considered a minimalist at heart, but his high concept approach to design and marketing might have been a mismatch with the brand’s audience who wasn’t simply ready to be approached in such way. Designer’s final offering for the brand was noticeably tamer as concept, and the conscious effort to simplify can be felt, especially compared to some of the looks from his previous work. The main focus of the collection were the reinvented classics of American fashion, modernized for the new age, which is something we learned to expect from the brand through the years.
Pierpaolo Piccioli, fresh off of his Designer of the Year win at Fashion Awards in London, has staged a true spectacle in Tokyo for Valentino which fully showcased how and why he has earned the win. Main influences on the collection were Japanese aesthetic concepts of Ma and Wabi-Sabi, finding beauty in the imperfections. Watching the clothes come down the runway felt like a fully realized wardrobe of a Valentino woman come to life. The balance between couture and casual, structure and flow, restraint
and volume was achieved with such incredible nuance that the more extravagant looks didn’t feel out of place next to denim separates, which in turn didn’t get overshadowed.
Every single piece was given enough space to shine, everything was in perfect harmony and equilibrium, which makes Pierpaolo’s way of interpreting his references particularly refreshing, as it went beyond the surface and straight to the core, paying homage to the culture where the concept originated from.
By Djordje Veljkovic
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