Pierpolo Piccioli: “Fashion must be motor of change”

The Italian designer has been working for Valentino for twenty years. Appointed artistic director in 2016, he perpetuates the know-how of one of the most glamorous Italian houses while offering attractive parts for the Tiktok generation.

Gathered by

It is one of the current fashion designers at the highest capital of sympathy, does not hesitate to stage on his Instagram account, accompanied by his famous teams or friends, from the actress Zendaya to the Mika singer. Graduated from the European Institute of Design of Rome, Pierpaolo Piccioli, 55, has made his classes at Fendi, before joining Valentino House, from 1999, where he takes care of accessories, and before climbing the ladder. Appointed at the head of the artistic direction in 2016, he has been working since to perpetuate the tradition and know-how of one of the most glamorous Italian houses.

Under his impulse, the evening dresses are shaped for red carpets, like the emerald split model carried by Actress Jessica Chastain at the Cannes Film Festival, in 2021, while the cloakroom imagined for the daily has outfit and extra elegance. The strength of Pierpolo Piccioli? To have also been desirable to the elusive generation Z, young people aged 12 to 25, who change advice and taste as quickly as Tiktok publications. Small handbags, ample sweatshirts, denim pieces and imposing sneakers have thus joined the bearers of Valentino, successfully.

Supporting young fashion designers is also at the heart of the artistic director: at the next Milanese Women’s Fashion Week, which is held from February 22nd to 28th, Pierpaolo Piccioli will invite the Instagram account of Valentino the Younger Italian Marco Rambaldi (31 years) to expose his creations to some sixteen million subscribers. An operation orchestrated in combination with the Italian National Chamber, designed to highlight emerging talents, and will be reiterated each season. It is within his office in Rome, cluttered with beautiful art books, fashion photos and trinkets, which he receives us. A pack of cigarettes at hand.

What is your first mode of fashion?

I was not particularly attracted by fashion or clothes when I was a child. Fashion came to me by cinema, through the Italian films in particular. The Note de Michelangelo Antonioni [1961], Medea de Pier Paolo Pasolini [1969] … These are images, today still, very high. For me, that’s how fashion! It is difficult for me to separate fashion cinema, because the emotions I felt then are very linked, beyond the garment in itself. I was later interested in fashion photography, the work of Irving Penn or Richard Avenedon. This has, in a way, shaped my eye.

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/Media reports.