From left to right: Alexander McQueen, Hermès, Valentino
Photo-Illustration: by The Cut; Photos: Courtesy of Alexander McQueen, Filippo Fior/Courtesy of Hermes, Courtesy of Valentino
Considering Balenciaga’s recent trouble, it’s striking how calm the scene was outside its show. Almost everywhere else in Paris, you have to walk through a screaming gauntlet of spectators and celebrity hunters, with pockets of fangirls in matching colors suddenly going berserk. I was on my way into Valentino on Sunday night, in a former private mansion, when the crowd went full animal: “Anna! Anna!” I saw the smooth bob of Anna Wintour dart from her black car a few meters ahead. I tripped on a cobblestone.
The lighting design at Balenciaga.
Photo: Cathy Horyn
But Balenciaga was calm and assured at every step, proof that leading houses don’t have to chase youth or clicks quite so desperately — unless, of course, they’re seriously muddled. One thing I forgot to mention in my review of Demna’s show for Balenciaga was the lighting design. It was masterful. There were few visible fixtures in the long, off-white room and none above the runway. Demna had said he wanted to scale things back — instead of doing another spectacular set — but that did not mean resorting to a basic white box with ugly lights and rigging. That sort of consideration was generally missing from Pierpaolo Piccioli’s Valentino show.
Valentino.
Photo: Getty Images
Its theme was “black tie” and how…
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