As one of the world’s most illustrious fashion houses, Valentino is known for producing some of the finest couture collections with a signature feminine elegance (think bows, feathers, ruffles and lace aplenty, along with intricate embroidery) building upon founder Valentino Garavani’s simple premise that women want to feel beautiful.
Creating beauty through couture led Valentino to dress Hollywood’s elite including Elizabeth Taylor and Audrey Hepburn since 1952. Since 2008, Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli took the reins of fashion house and it has since evolved to appeal to a new generation with a cool, modern attitude, while remaining true to its decadent heritage. The latest evolution comes in the form of beauty – and we couldn’t be more excited about it.
“As a designer, I am driven by the urge to witness such evolution,” says Piccioli. “To me, it’s very important to deliver this idea of beauty through the makeup.” Switching their thinking from the idea of exclusivity to inclusivity, Piccioli built the range to celebrate individuality as well as extravagance. “For me, the genesis was to create a clash: to embrace a new generation bringing out their own individual beauty, and at the same time to create a makeup collection that could bring excellence and experimentation of couture.”
The result of his vision is a makeup range that is built for all with the sole aim of emphasising the beauty of humanity. “I wanted everyone to have the possibility to play with our products, matching not only their skin, but also their emotions.” The range of 14 products across all makeup categories, from foundation to eyeliner to eyeshadow to lipstick, has been extensively tested across 5000 skin tones and is cased in some of the most thoughtfully designed and most luxurious packaging we have ever seen, most of which is refillable. The refillable lipsticks have a golden mirrored side for on-the-go application, the blush comes with a fluffy blending brush hidden in the hinge.
Then, there’s the Go-Clutch, the hero product in the collection. The signature Valentino red and gold clutch was inspired by the concept of a fashion accessory that was first presented in the Valentino Spring Summer 2017 collection, and contains a mini lipstick and satin powder or bronzer, which has been made wearable thanks to the delicate gold chain. “Couture is about excellence, details, it is a way of approaching beauty that is extravagant,” Piccioli says. If that’s the case, beauty doesn’t get more couture than this.
