The Valentino SS24 runway at the École Nationale Supérieure Des Beaux-Arts (a French fine arts school) was an exploration of our notions of nakedness, and the interrelationship between nudity and the female body.
For Pierpaolo Piccioli, it was all about bringing agency back to the female gaze this season – emancipating the skin from the idea of provocation and away from “the male gaze or societal expectation". Instead, the designer reimagines the skin as a fabric in itself – abbreviated garments, cut-outs and sheer fabrics all playing into this idea.
What were the standout looks from the Valentino SS24 collection?
The show centred around the House's new textile technique, entitled Altorilievo (High Relief), which sculpts fabric into three-dimensional, sculptural forms. Kaia Gerber opened the show in one of these looks, a cut-out white cap-sleeved mini-dress, featuring Baroque-style forms. Other Altorilievo ensembles on the runway featured floral motifs, or fauna and fruits.
Saturated blue denim blazers and cut-out jeans, boxy T-shirts and grey knit dresses also featured, adding more street-appropriate styles to the mix. There were also some Valentino signatures: caped dresses, strong-shouldered suiting and of course, plenty of the House's iconic shoes and bags – including the debut of their new Valentino Garavani Vlogo Moon bag, which features gold-chain handles and a half-moon silhouette.
Who attended the Valentino SS24 show?
As always, the show was a star-studded affair, with notable names like Cher, Florence Pugh, Andrew Garfield, Penn Badgley and Paris Hilton sitting front row. Even TikTok's Tube Girl was in attendance.
The ethereal FKA Twigs also performed live on the runway, alongside a group of dancers, each rolling in sand and dirt as a way to "explore and honour bodies, a physicality, and the feminine".
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Watch the Valentino SS24 show below, now:
For more runway coverage, check out our Paris Fashion Week SS24 highlights.
