Valentino Staged a Multimedia Presentation for Fall 2020 Haute Couture

Featuring a film by Nick Knight and models on aerial rings.

On Tuesday, Pierpaolo Piccioli presented his latest haute couture vision for Valentino at the Cinecittà Studios in Rome (instead of Paris’s Hôtel Salomon de Rothschild, where the luxury brand normally stages a runway show during Haute Couture Fashion Week).

Titled “Of Grace and Light,” the Fall 2020 collection debuted as a “conversation” between Piccioli and photographer Nick Knight (who also lensed the video for Maison Margiela’s Artisanal Co-Ed autumnal line), as designers continue to find alternative ways to showcase couture amid a global pandemic.

There was no runway. Instead, models stood on rotating risers wearing larger-than-life Valentino gowns — think the usual full skirts and volume characteristic of Piccioli’s Valentino, only made twice, if not three times as long — as colorful graphics were projected onto the garments, or sat on aerial rings as wind blew on the fabric and embellishments on their looks (so, in both cases, seemingly maintaining a safe social distance), as a soundtrack by FKA Twigs played. Afterwards, spotlights gave viewers a better look at the designs themselves: 10 white dresses and capes at the center, and five silvery ensembles overhead.