PARIS — Valentino's first couture show since house founder Valentino Garavani's funeral in Rome opened under a somber shadow — then snapped it off with a jolt of pure theater.
VIP guests including Sir Elton John were guided through near-darkness to their ''seats'': simple stools set against circular pods, each punctured by a small kinky-feeling viewing window.
When the show began, the blinds lifted; the classical music soundtrack cut by the sharp punctuation of barking dogs.
Inside the hubs, models appeared like mannequins behind glass — private viewing holes turned into a couture peep show.
Couture as show
The white, sterile-lit staging leaned into the idea of a curated gaze.
Each guest saw a slice, not always the whole: a face, a shoulder, a shimmer of fabric, then the next.
The set read like a sterilized, futuristic cell — clean, white, clinical — made more unsettling by the soundscape, which kept slipping from elegance into angry animal sounds.
