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Giambattista Valli: Homage to Yves

Giambattista Valli, the designer who boasts the hippest local "it girl" support group, evoked Yves Saint Laurent in Paris at his grand fall 2009 collection on Monday, March 9.

“It’s part homage to YSL,” the designer said amidst a swirling pack of camera crews in his traditionally chaotic backstage, as TV reporters scuffled for their interviews with Valli.

But this was the late Saint Laurent rarefied through the Valli aesthetic prism, so we opened with the Italian designer’s signature bubble coats. This was volume with a capital V, and clearly wowed the front row of ambitious women.

His debut passage, a coat splayed like a mansard roof, was in a deep sunset red, the same hue as the backdrop of this show staged in the Ephemere Paris show space in the Tuileries Gardens.

We also got a couple of shots of a huge trend on the European runways – fur arms on coats, jackets and boleros - a Yeti gal look that is protective, posh and appeals to certain longing for a return to nature. In Valli’s case, we witnessed a mini bolero with orangutan arms, which sounds absurd but look very, very cool.

The riffs on Saint Laurent were fairly apparent – from giant plaid mohair skirts to the truncated, loose trousers to the overall color scheme.

Models with artfully twisted-at-the-back chignons and lilac eye shadow, had a light, easy air. Not so, however, always the clothes. The show had a tricky middle period when the silhouette was just that bit too heavy, ageing the models – never a great thing - and making for a stuffy atmosphere.

But Valli righted himself with one of those finales you only see in Paris, with ball gowns in magnificent ombré, color graduation, fabrics, that were finished with passmenterie belts that recalled the authority and poise of important Saint Laurent collections.

And, sending us out into the chilly Paris air on the right note, Giambattista finished with some wondrous birds of paradise, gowns, columns and coats in a mix of peacock prints, with peacock and marabou that packed great punch.

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