Giambattista Valli provides endless fairy tale moments for couture runway at Paris Fashion Week

The showcase was set in the courtyard gardens at the city’s Petit Palais
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Hannah Rochell4 July 2017

The fairy tale moments came in thick and fast at Giambattista Valli’s couture show in Paris yesterday.

They started in the idyllic catwalk setting of the courtyard gardens at the city’s Petit Palais but, as is to be expected from the Italian designer, the flamboyance continued into the gowns that were showcased last night.

Understatement isn't really in Valli’s vocabulary, whose opulent creations are a favourite of the super-rich customers that attend this most exclusive of fashion weeks, as well as being loved by the red carpet crowd in Hollywood.

The collection started with a succession of English country garden-inspired cocktail dresses, made from intricate embroidery and encrusted with rows of crystals that clinked as the models walked past.

The show notes boasted whimsical names for these confections such as ‘blooming garden’ and ‘tulip’s warbling’, and the romantic theme carried through into the soundtrack from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons.

All dresses in the opening section were styled with platform stilettos so high that the models required an arm to hold when negotiating the steps of the palace garden. It doesn't get more glamorous than that, and that - as Valli is tuned into - is what the customers want.

The sky-high shoes gave way to satin ballet slippers before long though, as short tutu dresses sporting long hems at the back - a Valli signature style - made an appearance.

And it was this idea, of layers and layers of feminine tulle, short and long, that the designer really won at with this collection.

Dress after dress made from this ultimate of feminine fabrics, often exaggerated in their girliness by appearing in various shades of pink that would be too saccharine were they not so beautiful.

The florals continued too, but in the form of longer, more traditional floor length gowns that had roses climbing around them. Nothing was short of being fit for a princess.

Haute Couture Paris Fashion Week SS17: street style

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Click here for more couture action at Paris Fashion Week

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