Pucci presents in Rome under the gaze of Ludovisi Ares

Camille Miceli chose the Eternal City of Rome and the historic Palazzo Altemps, next to Piazza Navona, to present the Spring/Summer 2024 'Very Vivara' collection by Pucci, the 'prince of prints'. Rome is a city much loved by the Italian-French designer, a place to spend a vacation and even spend an unforgettable vacation. love disappointmentsas she told FashionNetwork.com with a smile.

In the frescoed rooms of Rome's 15th-century Palazzo Altemps, where the flirtations of early 20th-century Italian author Gabriele D'Annunzio still resonate, and under the immortal gaze of the masterpiece of classical sculpture, Ludovisi Ares, Pucci organized a show with the best models and timeless icons such as Christy Turlington, Eva Herzigová, Angelina Kendall and, for the finale, Gabriella Rossellini. To the notes of Róisín Murphy's version of I think greatThese beautiful women reminded the public that Pucci is always capable of surprising and enchanting, staying true to its DNA even adopting a contemporary tone, and managing to impeccably dress young women and ladies of different ages and morphologies.

When Miceli was appointed creative director of Pucci in 2021, Sidney Toledano said: “Camille will be able to write a new chapter in the history of this home with a unique heritage.” And she has lived up to it. A heritage like that of Pucci, born in 1947 from the eclectic, visionary and even revolutionary personality of the Marquis Emilio Pucci, did not worry Miceli, who had previously risen to the challenge at brands with a glorious history such as Chanel, Dior and Louis Vuitton. Presenting her second show for the home in which LVMH bought a majority stake in 2000, Miceli said she was keen to reinterpret Vivara, one of the Florentine brand's most iconic prints. Emilio Pucci designed it in 1965 to symbolize his connection to the Mediterranean, naming it after a remote crescent-shaped islet near Capri.

“Until now, working on Vivara seemed premature to me, or perhaps even too obvious. I am like clay, I love to mold myself into a label. I needed to be prepared with a renewed aesthetic, to be able to incorporate this legendary print into a new work,” Miceli told FashionNetwork.com in impeccable Italian, made even more attractive by her unmistakable French accent. “With this new collection, I wanted to tell a story about different women, with the idea of ​​bringing Pucci into their everyday lives, addressing their individual needs, also determined by the different contexts in which they live,” said Miceli.

Miceli has designed a very diverse, modern and wearable collection, which also includes several silhouettes, such as the cape dress, ruffled collars and the column dress, created for the first time by Pucci himself. The collection alternates a sartorial register with a vision of contemporary and casual femininity with a hippie touch. It featured silk scarf-style dresses, streetwear trench coat sets with encrusted prints, microshorts, asymmetrical miniskirts and blouses, long dresses and skirts with deep slits, jumpsuits, fitted T-shirts, oversized blazers and bomber jackets. Tassels, all-over embroidery, sequins, leather details and chain details added a fun or sophisticated vibe to the looks. At the end of the show, a series of hooded dresses and plush kaftans with regal volumes paid homage to the Pucci archives.

Miceli had fun extrapolating individual design elements, playing with proportions and placing other Pucci prints at the center of the collection: Cigni, which evokes the elegant shape of a swan's curved neck; Bersaglio, a motif that twists, curls and expands in space; Chiave, which gives a Pucci flavor to classic stripes; and others, like Marmo, Pesci and Iridi. As usual, color shined as a signature Pucci trait, through a masterful and simple use of tonal combinations. Alongside Vivara's palette of navy, blue, green and purple, the collection's patterns explored a variety of tone-on-tone hues, from neutral tones like beige, khaki and black, to vibrant red and pink accents.

Accessories played a key role in the collection, particularly large costume jewelry (which Miceli loves and has a solid foundation in) with a tribal, “proud” feel, as she defines it. Her style was consistent with the mood of the collection and ranged from cascades of colorful discs to layered chains and studded leather tops, and even daring toe rings. Also presented were mules, twisted heel sandals, leaf sandals, leather bags incorporating some scarf prints, crossbody bags with chain straps or handles, as well as nylon and raffia bags that add a touch of color and enthusiasm to the looks. .

To explain how pleasant it was for her to delve into the brand's archives and then reinterpret what she found in her own way, Miceli quoted a phrase from Goethe that Karl Lagerfeld used to repeat as if it were a precept: “Faire a better future with the elargis elements of the passée.”

Isabella Rossellini and Ludovisi Ares at the Palazzo Altemps – D.R.

Pucci's Roman show was undoubtedly proof of the enduring vitality of the brand's classic codes, provided they are reinterpreted in a spirit as revolutionary as that which characterized the creative talent of the brand's founder.