Haute Couture Fashion Week comes to an end today, and with it quite possibly an era.
Expected to take the helm at Dior any day now, Valentino creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri, along with Pierpaolo Piccioli, showed what is widely reported to be the final collection for the fashion house as a duo.
What did it offer? Fittingly, a take on another wonderful era: England's Elizabethan period and the works of its pre-eminent playwright, William Shakespeare (2016 also happens to be the 400th anniversary of the Bard's death).
There were ruffles. Beautiful Elizabethan ruffles.
And workmanship like no other, like this dress that took 580 hours to bead:
It's embroidered with the words "If you love me I'm in your heart, if you hate me I'm in your mind," taken from this quote, often attributed to Shakespeare: "Love me or hate me, both are in my favour. If you love me, I'll always be in your heart, but if you hate me, I'll always be in your mind."
This beautiful hand-painted dress inspired by Shakespeare's Juliet:
And this patchwork coat that took 1,200 working hours to be stitched together.
[instagram ]https://www.instagram.com/p/BHh0s4Rh_06/?taken-by=maisonvalentino&hl=en[/instagram]
