Extending his offerings beyond the silk taffetas and plissé ruffles of Fall’s Haute Couture, Giambattista Valli has tried a deft hand at the nouveau romance of bridal. It has become something less Edwardian, less institutional, less heavy, and yet turned minimalistic (by Valli standards) while upholding that same froth and pomp of the occasion.

In some 16 gowns and one neatly tailored pantsuit, The “Love” Collection taps that ineffable elegance of all Valli girls – punctuating the frisson and hard escapism and radical craft that often underscores Giamba’s namesake. 

In conversation with WWD’s Miles Socha, Valli said he aimed to uphold the haute couture “expertise and atelier rituals” while translating them with respect for the “richness of textures, materials and volumes” and potent femininity that defines his design ethos. It’s a controlled excess, one very much tame by house standards, one that reinterprets heritage codes and Valli’s enduring halo of outsized tulles and frothy maximalism and unerring whimsy – a step-change toward the lean, unfussy, and new. 

It nearly seems Giamba has tailored out the excess, tapered down the dimensions, and made a foray on the ‘wearable’ – a smart trick sitting at the nexus of his haute-archetypes and the more shopable, occasion-suiting pieces of his ready-to-wear. 

Due out on Sept. 9, the aptly titled “Love” Collection will unveil at Bloomingdales in New York as a roving trunk show, followed by a debut at Capitol in Charlotte, N.C., on Sept. 16; Capitol in Brentwood, Calif., on Sept. 23, and Neiman Marcus in Dallas on Oct. 14. Each outing will last between three to four days in a bid to scale the full Valli effect – one colored vivid in dragging tulles, gigot sleeves, and cinched floral chantilly.