Smoke seeped from machines along the runway and bubbles and paper cherry blossoms fell from the ceiling at Moncler Gamme Rouge. That s a lot of competition, even for a collection of couture outerwear, but Giambattista Valli s jackets and coats held up. He divided the collection into three sections. The first featured photoprints of clouds in acid-bright colors made all the more hallucinogenic by the fact that the sheer fabrics were doubled up, giving the images a three-dimensional depth. Some were embellished with dense fringe in the same electric sunset shades. In the second group, the bubble shapes he s been doing for years at the label were made from double layers of organza with fluorescent yellow paillettes trapped inside; they glowed under the black lights. His third idea was to cut rosettes into the fabric of shirts and shifts in what could ve been leather or a technical fabric—it was hard to tell for sure. These pieces were the biggest stretch from Moncler s sporty raison d être, but under the swirling blossoms, they looked like a bit of fun.
