"True style has no rules," designer Maria Grazia Chiuri said of the Spring/Summer 2014 collection for Valentino - only the second menswear outing in Paris for the storied Italian house. The show, with a uniform theme, was more coherent than last season - and felt as if Chiuri and her design partner Pier Paolo Piccioli were finding their feet in this new territory for Valentino, a label that's known principally for its womenswear.
The idea of "no rules" played out in the 47 looks - mostly to good effect - where uniform was broken up and subverted.
The show's opener was the most successful example of this, with the uniformity of the bread-and-butter sharply tailored suits broken up with contrasting bands of blue dye. Elsewhere, pockets, martingales, panels and collars were given textural and colour contrasts on ensembles with military, mechanic and school uniform styles.
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