Giambattista Valli Lets Go

PARIS, France — "An introspection on the comfort zone of a woman" was the slightly cryptic explanation given by Giambattista Valli on the thinking behind today's show. "It's all about different expressions of the feminine personality. There is almost no link between a look and the other. Individuality is key," added the designer. His mood board included a poem from Frida Kahlo that begins: "You deserve a lover who wants you dishevelled, with everything and all the reasons that wake you up in a haste and the demons that won't let you sleep..."

Valli joins the chorus of fashion pluralists: designers who believe a little incoherence is the salt of contemporary style. The choice makes perfect sense. It's a complex world after all — limiting the depiction of womanhood to a formula is a deadly narrowing of perspective, even if you are doing so as a fashion designer.

For Valli, this all meant a newfound emphasis on lightness and playfulness. Gone are the dramatic, sculptural, couture-tinged shapes of the past. Valli ushered in a new era of short and sharp skirts mismatched with frilly blouses, trapeze minidresses in intensely psychedelic textures and long flowing gowns. Matched with flat, glittery-soled gladiator sandals, this all made for a fresh new take on the Valli girl. She's not so uptight anymore; she lets go.

And what about those contrasting expressions of femininity? They were there, too. The lightness of the clothes was weighted down by stones worn like pendants at the neck. Every rose, you know, has its thorns.