Valentino's Pierpaolo Piccioli on Couture and the Importance of Community

“I’m not the kind of designer who sits alone in the room with the flowers and the candles sketching,” said Pierpaolo Piccioli. The down-to-earth designer, who received a standing ovation for his magnificent Spring 2019 Valentino show, opened Vogue’s second annual Forces of Fashion conference, speaking to International Editor at Large Hamish Bowles. Piccioli will soon celebrate 20 years at the Italian house and spoke about his move, in 1999, from the collegial, familial Casa Fendi to Valentino. He wore flip-flops on his first day—a no-no at a label where formality was de rigueur, opinions were rarely expressed, and where the air conditioning was hiked up so that people could wear suits even in summer. These days, with Piccioli at the helm, the atmosphere is much more relaxed.

Piccioli has never sought the limelight for himself and admitted that he’s always stood apart. “When you are a kid, maybe this is not so good, but when you grow up, you understand that this is going to be your strength, not to think in groups but to think alone,” he said. “Always to be in a place where you’re not in a box.” This freedom has unleashed some ravishing designs—putting a couture gloss to ready-to-wear—created by two generations of craftspeople with whom Piccioli works side by side in his Roman atelier to keep the dream of couture alive.

Here, highlights from the panel.

On Loving His Job

“When people ask me if I feel the pressure of all these collections, I still remember the kid I was. This is an opportunity for me; I feel lucky enough. I never imagined in my life to have all of this, not at all. For me, it was a gift; I was already happy before becoming creative director. As Marcello Mastroianni used to say, ‘If I didn’t do this job, I’d have to work in my life.’ It’s the same for me.”

On His Vision for the House

“For me, it’s very important to be a couture house, but it has to be relevant for today—not to live in the past. Every day my issue is to get the house keeping the values of couture, but I want a brand alive and not dusty. [This] together with the idea of moving Valentino from the idea of lifestyle to community. Lifestyle is, for me, a group of people that share surfaces—same lamps, same houses, same holidays—so same pictures. Communities are groups of people that share values. I want to move Valentino from the idea of lifestyle to the idea of communities. Moving Valentino from the idea of an exclusive brand to an inclusive brand, keeping the idea of luxury and couture, but moving into a more inclusive world.”

On the Importance of Ritual

“You need time and you need rituals, because couture is made of rituals. That’s part of couture’s magic. I still do the fittings on the first floor and the atelier is on the second floor, and they come from the second floor to the first floor covering and wrapping all the toils with paper, because when couture was born, it was [a] secret; you couldn’t unveil it before the show. I like to maintain all that; the premiere is the first one to enter into the room—it’s very hierarchic, the couture. You can do new things in couture, but I think it’s important to maintain the rituals, the magic that makes couture so special. It’s an experience.”

On Change, and Beauty

“When I saw Troye Sivan [who stars in the 2018 campaign images] wearing couture pieces, I felt that it was not so far from the ’80s of Mr. Valentino. It was the same kind of beauty, even if it was a boy wearing a couture dress. To have a boy like Troye who stands up for values I believe in, wearing a piece of couture, for me, that was a sign of change in Valentino. And seeing Frances McDormand [wearing Valentino] at the Met Ball was a sign of change. She embodies the idea of talent and not only of beauty. For me, beauty is not related to the physical attributes—for me, beauty is about grace. It’s something inner and not to show off. I’m obsessed with Renaissance master paintings, and in all of these paintings, you don’t feel the idea of beauty, you feel the idea of grace. Beauty is not about being one way, [it’s about] uniqueness. Individualism is the only link between all the beauties I like.”

On the Dream of Couture

“As I told you, when I was a kid, I was dreaming about couture but I never saw [it] so closely, so couture, for me, was pictures [from] amazing photographers that I used to see. Couture was not about craft, it was about the dream of couture. I remember when I was dreaming of the Deborah Turbeville picture of the four black dresses with the red [one]. When I saw these five girls in Roma, the walls, the wind, I felt this nice movement . . . I love to see the pictures as frames or something, imagining something before, something after. I had a feeling in my mind about this, and when I arrived at Valentino, I asked to see the pieces because I wanted to touch [them]. And when I saw [them], they were not at all as in my imagination. They were more heavy; they were more structured. I decided in that moment that I was not going to go back and see the archive, just to keep the pictures I have in my mind. That’s the way I work with couture. I like to think about the past but not to see the past. I feel that your eyes change what you are going to see, because you put your imagination on something.”

Go Behind the Scenes at the 2018 Forces of Fashion Conference

Go Behind the Scenes at the 2018 Forces of Fashion Conference