Valentino’s Pierpaolo Piccioli is fashion’s most accomplished colourist. The Pantone master mixes shades with such intuitive confidence, and creates such virtuoso colour combinations that it frequently brings tears to the eyes of his audience. So when he turns to black, it makes you sit up and take note. He called the AW24 collection Le Noir and explored every nuance of the seriously chic shade.

He spoke of wearing black as his personal uniform because allows him to focus on what’s around him. “From the black I seek light, in black I refine my sight”, he explained on his personal Instagram. “I approach black as a canvas, a starting point on which to build layers and structures.”

The collection did just that, cleverly using texture, cut and transparency to frame the body and focus the eye. Even within his restrictive colour vocabulary the designer had much to say. His couturier’s eye for cut and line expressed beautifully on the opening tailored looks – short, sharp, sensational. Transparent blouses veiled and revealed the body beneath, angular cut outs framed the skin, layered lace camisole dresses expressed extreme lightless and delicacy.  A matching blouson and full skirt came in high shine black leather, which gave the ladylike silhouette an edge. The hems of sleek dresses frothed with back feathers. A workwear jacket glistened with long sequin quills. The final gowns were ravishing and so sheer they were made with built in underwear. Veiling and revealing at the same time, the skin and the body became integral to the design, which showed off every skill of Valentino’s atelier. This was a love letter to fashion’s favourite shade – the colour that Charles Baudelaire called “l’uniforme de la démocratie” (the uniform of democracy). It looks good on everyone.

valentino.com