It's Couture Week: Giambattista Valli Spring 2017

"It’s not the first time that creasing-as-decoration has seen the light of day—Martin Margiela, Miuccia Prada, and more recently Alessandro Michele at Gucci have all tried their hand at creating the notion that their clothes have had a life before they’ve made it onto the runway. This has to be one of the first times it has been explored at couture level, though, and it was a more human-scaled counterpoint to Valli’s general modus operandi when he’s working on these collections, where he’s a firm believer in making big, as in really, really big, gestures. For the most part, though, it was ball gowns galore for Spring. Some were constructed out of countless yards of tulle and mousseline, a Valli standard, while others were traced in graphic formations with crystals, so they conspired to somehow look both extravagant and minimalistic at the same time. If one can talk about trends at couture, then it’s this: The Ball Gown Is Back. How this rates in a world where so many women are currently engaged with activism and empowerment, who can say? But after all, this is the haute couture, so why not go all out? No one came here looking for a hoodie, after all." - vogue.com