During Spring 2025's Couture Week, fashion critic Katherine K. Zarrella highlights the contrast between high couture prices and the wearability of designs. The article reflects on Alessandro Michele's grand debut for Valentino, featuring extravagant designs reminiscent of Italian cinema but questioning their practicality for everyday wear. Clients express frustrations over the lack of wearable pieces in a market dominated by lavish couture that serves more theatrical than functional purposes. Through evocative descriptions, Zarrella captures the essence of the couture experience while pondering the evolution and future of ready-to-wear fashion.
Is it so much to ask for one designer to make a dress I can actually wear?
Michele's first couture runway spectacle—and believe you me, it was a spectacle—was fit for an old-world Italian contessa who exists exclusively inside a Fellini film.
Many models wore masks, and across the black wall flashed the innumerable inspirations that flew through Michele's mind while designing via neon lights.
It was theater—mildly evocative of Oh, Mary! or the 1968 on-screen adaptation of Romeo and Juliette.
Collection
[
|
...
]