Punk as the deviation from conformity, the adoption of black and white, an updated concept of humanism has pervaded the designs, the studies, and the pillars of Valentino
Humanism and sexuality
Milano, February 2021 – the established Piccolo Teatro hosts a Valentino’s anthology. Humanism as the positivity in approach to life, the human experience and thoughts as the core of the belief. The law of humanists conceives the experiences of beings and their rationality as the reservoir of knowledge. Through the statement of the International Humanist and Ethical Union: «Humanism is a democratic and ethical life stance, which affirms that human beings have the right and responsibility to give meaning and shape to their own lives». Sensuality as the awakening of the way one feels, listens, hears, tastes and sees to find pleasure. Dr. Cat Meyers, a sex therapist, elaborates on sensuality that differs from sexuality, the reference to sex, as the input into one’s brain from the environment to signal reward and gratification, the behaviors that intend to connect, play or control one’s energy or wisdom, and the embodiment of vitality and passion. Paolo Coelho puts sensuality and sexuality as «anyone who is observant, who discovers the person they have always dreamed of, knows that sexual energy comes into play before sex even takes place. The greatest pleasure isn’t sex, but the passion with which it is practiced».
Valentino at the Piccolo Teatro
Through the fall and winter compendium of Valentino, humanism and the play between sensuality and sexuality infiltrate monochromaticity as Piccioli leans towards black and white with the rarity of gold’s appearance. The theatre dims the light in its stillness, the rows of chairs in red portray the absence of the crowd, and the voice of Cosima, a musician from the south of London in the United Kingdom, echoes inside the theater in her, at first, acoustic rendition of Nothing Compares 2 U by Sinnead O’Connor, singing «it’s been seven hours and fifteen days since you took your love away». The Orchestra Sinfonica accompanies Cosima’s crooning with violin, viola, violoncello and contrabass.
What is punk
The definition of punk refers to a gangster, hoodlum, ruffian, or novice as an individual, while a citation of rebellion in the subculture as a style; a code against the inequalities in the society, conformity, prevalence of thoughts, the blame on sexuality, and the mistrust over race. In Piccioli’s conduct, «reopening a theater today is almost a punk gesture. Choosing to show our collection at the Teatro Piccolo in Milano is a way to start the process of reopening places of culture in our country. Teatro Piccolo di Milano represents the values our brand stands for; it is a place of inclusivity and freedom».
Valentino Act Collection
In Valentino’s production of black and white, the canvas transforms into a layered daywear, pleated skirts and dresses bare the legs, knitwear sweaters fall in the same line as the high-neck pullovers, combat boots reach the knees, and bon ton capes and maxi coats drape the body and touch the floor. The details of mesh permeate throughout the design, its transparency amalgamates with feathers, sequins, embroideries, inlays and carvings, textualizing silhouettes and converting laces into nets. The phase of rebellion ensues as through the appearance of a gold suit over a gold V-neck sweater pattern with the collar that covers the neck in white and mesh. The flow of the narrative gushes from a long dress in black and mesh that hugs the body of the model to a dress in white that displays the skin and patterns of flowers over the net material. If not separation of designs, the palettes of black and white fuse as one through a mesh collar that conceals the neck to pair the sweater in black with the V in white and to finish with a coat in zigzag of white and black that forms the letter V to signal the fashion house’s first letter. Ben Kehoe, a researcher of popular political and popular political participation during the Italian Risorgimento, writes Romanticism, the movement between late eighteenth and mid-nineteenth centuries, as a deviation from the principles of Enlightenment, the belief in reason as the foundation of knowledge, and rather towards sensitivity to emotions and subjectivity to individuals, imagination over reason as the essential faculty, its infusion within and diffusion across Valentino’s identity. Sensuality brings over the pursuit of pleasure over one’s physicality, the marriage between the body and one’s condition of fulfilling their senses, its percolation with romanticism for Valentino Act Collection. The repercussion glowers through trousers for men cut above the ankle, transformations of peacoats and jackets into capes, evening dresses tied with ribbons, the adoption of fluorescent, acrylic, check, spotted and polka dots to unveil parts of one’s body through nets and laces that overlap. Starielle Hope, a sex and relationship coach, considers the way one dresses as part of their sensuality, the criteria of choosing one’s clothes and the sensation they feel once the fabric touches their skin; the liberty in selecting the outfits, putting them on first to judge oneself before a mirror and deliberate whether or not the materials justify the occasion.
For the Fall and Winter 2021 compendium of Valentino, Pierpaolo Piccioli, the fashion house’s creative director, employs the palettes of black, white and gold to converse rebellion in humanism and sensuality in romanticism at Teatro Piccolo di Milano and through the ensemble of Cosima and Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi to power the hall and designs with music.
