Dan Levy: Oh hello, Pierpaolo! Where are we heading to this evening?

Pierpaolo Piccioli: I just left the office, and [I’m] going back home! I live outside of Roma, so it takes me one hour [to arrive] there.

DL: Do you find that you like to be outside the city? Does that sort of remove you from the hustle and bustle?

PP: Yeah, I want to be far from everything. It’s [actually] the place where I grew up, [and] where I was dreaming to escape from. I never felt like I belonged to that place—the feeling of not belonging to something or someone makes you independent. I never felt [the need] to belong, so growing up, I felt that that kind of loneliness could be my strength.

DL: I mean, my dad chose to raise my family in Toronto, away from Los Angeles where he was working. And I think it’s the greatest gift he gave my family. We were able to live lives that were very separate and free from business, and I think that really kind of allows you the freedom to think for yourself, independent of what’s going on around you.

PP: I feel that kind of freedom of choosing to be exactly where you are. It gives you the feeling of being free.

DL: I think that is what’s great.

PP: As a kid, my parents didn’t really understand me, but they left me the freedom to live as who I [am] and that was enough.

DL: It’s more than enough! I think what you have done [at Valentino] has inspired so many people, myself included. There’s such an individualistic DNA to the clothes that you design. Anyone who wears your clothes, you see it on their face—they’re joyful.

PP: As a fashion designer, I want to use my voice to send messages and values that I believe in. Through the beauty of the clothes, you can invite people to express themselves however they want to be, wherever they want to be. As a designer, I never want to be [what] people expect me to be. Wanting to be very faithful to my identity and being different [became] a value. Now, as the creative director of Valentino, I’m still the same, more or less. I still feel as though every collection is an opportunity to tell something.

DL: Well, I think the show was an incredibly moving experience because you were confronted with the image of joy. There was such a slow pace to [it all which] I found to be quite emotional because we’re living in such chaotic times. What you showed, but didn’t even have to say, was how we just need to take a breath, walk a little slower, and look at the beauty in our lives.

PP: Thank you! That’s the best compliment for me. That was the idea—that all together, we could [let] change into the door that we were opening at the moment. If you breathe and leave that [chaotic] world for a moment, maybe you can witness that change.

DL: Couture is obviously a very technical thing but what does the idea of couture mean to you?

PP: It’s a celebration of uniqueness. I still feel that couture is the ultimate opportunity to express myself—it’s a way to be free, to satisfy my feelings and thoughts. Couture is also something that is timeless [and] about humanity—a celebration of the humans behind couture. Without those humans, you won’t have the right craftsmanship.

DL: You are such a genius when it comes to unexpected color combinations—it’s so incredible to see. Considering color plays such a formative role in the clothes that you design, how did you begin to put together the combinations in the last show?

PP: When you work with color, you work with what you see and let your emotions flow. When I had a picture in my mind, I worked with the fabrics and color teams in a very personal way. You can’t create new colors, but you definitely can create new combinations, new harmonies, which is what fashion, cinema, and art is for. New is new—new is what you don’t know, it’s [about what you’ve] never seen before, which is a nightmare for every creative. I don’t have an obsession [with newness], because I like the idea of seeing something you know, but with different eyes. That impacts you more than something that is completely new, but far from reality—just abstract. I have no interest in abstraction. I just like to see reality in a different way.

DL: On top of the color this season, you also reached out to select artists to collaborate on some pieces. For the show, it felt like you were expanding your community to involve artists that you wanted people to see and appreciate, and that was really touching. How did you go about selecting those artists to work with?

PP: It all came from a need for connection. When I started that collection, I felt like it was missing connection and an exchange of ideas. I [wanted] to create a factory of people that share the same values, with different points of view. So I selected some artists whose work I liked because, through the show, I wanted to create a movie with many cameos. I think cameos make movies richer, no?

DL: Oh, of course! It’s the details of it all. It’s the texture of what you’re wanting to say.

PP: [After] selecting these artists, I saw that they all share an aesthetic. I started to speak with them, some I met in Roma and some on Zoom, and what I realized is that we all have the same wants and needs. I felt that we could be a community because a community is all about sharing values, right?