So Bad It’s Great. Valentino SS27

At first, I found Alessandro Michele’s latest Valentino collection so obnoxiously tacky that I was close to completely dismissing it. But then I went back to it. And again. And again. And I still can’t stop looking. I realised that, with all its va-va-voom, Michele is ferociously fighting the current status quo of fashion: the safer, the better. We are so indoctrinated with ideas of “good taste” that his collection feels like a much-needed danger – a slap on the wrist that shakes you up. The colours are gloriously pop and motley, the silhouettes delightfully old-school, and there’s something very, very enchanting about how profoundly un-modern this collection looks. In a fashion landscape obsessed with restraint, Michele is making a case for excess, awkwardness and sheer visual pleasure. It’s so bad, it’s great.