Valentino and Akris thoughtful

On a cool, windy Sunday, thousands of fans crowded around the entrance to the shows of two of fashion's classiest brands, Valentino and Akris, where dark highlights were the unifying theme.

Valentino: red for many blacks

Valentino, the fashion house that defined the concept of sinful red, is now the true expression of devilish black.

Black has made a strong comeback this season, but its biggest triumph was this Sunday at Valentino, where designer Pierpaolo Piccioli created the entire collection in black, or should we say black.

As he noted in his program notes, his black tones evoked the gloomy blacks of Mark Rothko; the reflective blacks of Pierre Soulages and the sculptural blacks of Brânçusi.

Piccioli wisely chose the Hotel Pozzo di Borgo on the rue de l'Université, a gilded mansion best known for being the former home of Karl Lagerfeld. The black ensemble, fashionable from morning to midnight, contrasts ideally with the white walls, gilded moldings and historic frescoes and lunettes.

For the day, she showed off the most impeccable suits, cut with a scalpel and made with short ruffled miniskirts. She cut the best tuxedos of the season, both dresses and short jackets, while her redingotes and long coats reeked of class.

If her daywear was a bit predictable, Piccioli took plenty of risks for sheer evening wear, wearing a series of cocktail dresses and semi-sheer chiffon dresses to lend a major sense of elegance. With classic Sade songs playing as the cast strolled through the mansion's five ground-floor rooms, it was a moment of considerable fashion charm and a collection that should appeal to thousands of women of good taste.

“Black has always been the uniform of democracy,” Baudelaire once noted, and it was again this season at Valentino, the largest haute couture brand in the history of Rome.

Piccioli has always been a great creator of dreams, but he also knows how to create products. Adding a stylish and smart range of fantastic bags.

It should also be noted that in his campaigns and casting for Valentino, Rome-born Piccioli has used many models of color, cleverly reflecting the changing composition of the Italian capital. For a new generation of children whose parents crossed the Mediterranean from Africa to Italy are now an important part of local culture.

It is a brave step and should be applauded, given the anti-immigrant politics of many populists, not only in Italy, but also across Europe in recent years.

At the end, Pierpaolo took a bow, on a quick walk through the mansion, a consummate professional, basking in the recognition of his peers and the industry.

Akris: Photogram of fantasy, consummate elegance

Sunday afternoon witnessed an extremely chic Akris collection that ended with a fantasy still at Akris, staged in a defunct department store on rue de Rivoli.

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Featuring a brilliant series of fabrics and finishes drawn from the extraordinary production facilities that Akris designer Albert Kriemler and his family have created in their hometown of St. Gallen, Switzerland.

His big sartorial idea this season was to complete many coats and jackets with mini ponchos and capes, often made from a premium material, Stone System cashmere, that blocks both wind and rain. His silhouette was fitted and narrow, with sleek jackets often paired with Albert's signature double-front slit skirts.

For evening wear, he created pants so fluid they looked like skirts, and a fine series of oversized officer's blouses in faille.

In a gloomy season, her palette was dark: charcoal, charcoal, dark olive and kale green, but so dark that they seemed almost black, but also reflective. Before putting his workshop into overdrive with several dark columns of lace, St. Gallen's key fabric, captivatingly finished with natural rubber.

When considering Akris's unique status in fashion, it is important to realize that a large majority of the major collections shown in Milan, New York or Paris are made by clothing manufacturers in Italy, sometimes in France and occasionally in Portugal. Akris, however, makes everything in Switzerland, with the net result that its finishes, materials, tangents and details are truly different from those of its main rivals.

Which also made this season's finale so special; some 18 looks inspired by the photogram art of Katalin Deér, a Swiss artist who crumples prints in dark rooms or places objects on them to create beautifully colored twisted shapes, which Albert then fashioned into gorgeous evening coats or chiffon dresses, while he colored the columns in the old store with Deér engravings, while the models appeared in a graphic triumph at the end.

Master designer Kriemler at his quietest and best delivering delightful luxury.