Giambattista Valli flexed some seriously creative muscle at this season’s Paris Couture Week. Gone were the pretty gowns that he’s known for. In their place stood stunning printed dresses that looked like they sprung from terra firma. With paganism and Mother Nature as the backstory for this wood nymph populated collection, butterfly wings and dazzling landscapes were given life on the Valli runway. A ruby red dress opened the show with neck pleat detailing that came up so high that it made it hard for the model to walk. She was peering out, as if behind some massive petaled hedge while the portrait ruffle along the trim of her skirt rustled with her footsteps. Yet, this was among the least of Valli’s extravagant looks as models trotted the catwalk with butterflies affixed to their mouths, golden branches jutting from their shoulders and grass sprouting from their gowns.

This isn’t flora-and-fauna the way we’re used to seeing it on the runway. McQueen was famous for it, but his pieces always came with a more honest sense of decay – a more pronounced sense of the cycle of life. Yet, in Valli’s hands this technique is new and sharp. The prints are clear and perfect; the cuts are impeccable. It eschews the cycle, and focuses narrowly on nature’s origin. This is a collection of freshly opened blossoms and first rains. This is where he departs from the status quo, and if he wasn’t so good at it, there would be room for criticism.

written by GRACE GORDON|photos: courtesy of GoRunway