IS HOT PINK THE NEW MILLENNIAL PINK? VALENTINO MAKES MONOCHROMATICS EXCITING WITH PANTONE’S HELP
Photo Courtesy of Valentino
14 mar 2022, for frame
Location
4 Rue Eugène Spuller, 75003 Paris, France
Design, Production
Brand
Colour Design
Music
Valentino teamed up with Pantone to create a hot-pink hue for its latest collection – and the show’s set design.
Key features
The Carreau du Temple – a historic steel and glass market from 1868 – is one of the few surviving structures of 19th-century metal-framed architecture in Paris. To present the Valentino Pink PP collection, its spectacular interior space was almost entirely dressed in pink. Valentino creative director Pierpaolo Piccioli collaborated with the Pantone Color Institute to develop the bespoke shade of hot pink, which also characterized the majority of garments on show. Nature – specifically daylight – was to thank for the visual atmosphere. It cast expressive light on shadows on the monochrome collection. Halfway through the fashion show, however, the collection’s colour changed to black. Then the magic happened: the blackness of the clothes took on a slightly green intonation.
Frame's take
The Carreau du Temple is located in a bustling neighbourhood of the Place de la Republique. Surprisingly, though, the building feels like a quiet island – the former clothes market doesn’t retain attachment to its former use. The monochrome pink fashion space was an attempt to liberate the need for realism in this unbiased venue.
Creative director Pierpaolo Piccioli conceived the new Valentino Pink PP collection following the experimental urge of a radical gesture: the use of the same colour in the collection and the space was a courageous act in luxury fashion. Valentino’s Pink PP show will take its place in history as a daring and archetypal example of utilizing one definitive visual tool for both the set and the collection.