About Zendaya's first Valentino show as a Valentino muse...

Welcome to Lux and the City, a semi-weekly newsletter about the fashion industry, the entertainment world, and all the other parts of my life I might want to let you in on. You can subscribe here and follow me on Instagram @LUXURYLAW.

Hey Tribe,

I wanted to check in because I was just thinking about something magical that happened a few weeks back, when Pierpaolo from Valentino basically RESCUED Fashion Month... It was such a beautiful show to witness, and I was so humbled that Z and I got to have a little role in his brilliant production, too!

I want to set the scene for you. Let’s go on a little journey together…

So it’s the first week of March in Paris, one of those cold ass afternoons when it looks like it could start pouring rain at any moment but never really does. And everyone is here, because it’s one of the final days of Paris Fashion Week. That means the curtains are about to close and all the fashion girls are going back home soon. Some of you probably know already that Fashion Month always starts in New York, then jumps over to London, stops off in Milan and ends in Paris.

Then the party’s over, unless you book a plane ticket out to Seoul…

But anyways! Pierpaolo sent out these crazy show invitations that came in this bright, sharp pink color, and they came with these booklets he made with Douglas Coupland. The invitations said the show would be at the Carreau du Temple, this big glassed-in hall down the street from the Knights Templar. (That’s where they jailed Marie Antoinette for a whole year after the French Revolution, before they sent her to the guillotine…)

And at the Carreau, they built this big set that was painted that same intense, shiny shade of pink as the invitations...

Then THE CLOTHES came out.

And probably to the surprise of anyone who didn’t get a preview, every single look that went down that runway was either completely black or (most of the time) completely pink! The womenswear and the menswear. Like, full pink sets. Pink coats made of ostrich feathers, pink lace shirts, short pink bubble dresses, long pink opera gloves…

It was a MOMENT. The thing is that the pink isn’t neon, and it’s not quite fuchsia, but it’s not magenta either. DEFINITELY not baby pink, because it’s bolder than that. You can’t see it and not stare at it. Turns out it’s a shade of pink Pierpaolo developed with Pantone, and they gave it its own name: “Valentino Pink PP” (PP being his initials).

Usually Valentino goes with their signature red, that really pure bright red they’ve used since Valentino himself invented it. But Pierpaolo had a whole concept in mind.

He wanted to play with how we think about the color pink. Most people see it and think it’s feminine and girly. But in the 18th century, men wore pink because it was considered masculine. It was just a shade away from red, and men liked red because it was associated with war. Popes and kings and cardinals wore it. They wore heels too!

Pierpaolo thought if all the clothes were in one color, you could pay closer attention to the details. You’d notice all the embellishments, the silhouettes, the dramatic necklines… He did what he’s always done, which is apply couture techniques on everyday clothes. But it was also this thing of matching the clothes to the model, and making the person the focus, too.

Which is where Z and I come in. She’s Pierpaolo’s muse in the same way that she is mine! And so it only made sense that she would be the first girl to wear anything from the collection. Not just fresh off the runway, but fresh BEFORE the runway…

So she sat in the front row, of course, and I styled her in these crazy pieces from the collection! I chose this long coat over a tailored suit jacket and a light, open blouse, paired with those beautiful wide-legged trousers with these big, embellished floral motifs. And the pants billowed up around these chunky platform heels.

It was like Barbie came to life, stepped out of her packaging and sat down in the front row (next to Lewis Hamilton)!

Another angle, so you can see how the clothes move...

It was also Z’s first show at Valentino as a Valentino girl, which is such a special moment. The muse and the couturier. In a lot of ways it was another milestone for us. It took a long time for Z to get to the point where we could pull Valentino for her. For a while, none of the major brands wanted to dress her. They didn’t think she mattered like that. I mean, there’s a bunch of politics in fashion that people don’t get to see if they’re not in it. The PR people for the big luxury houses didn’t want to dress Z and they didn’t give a fuck about me either, so they wouldn’t let us pull their clothes.

I’m rambling. But that’s just to say that this is kind of a big deal! Today, Z and I as a team are one of the most major fashion forces there is in the industry. We’re a lonnnnnng way from NYFW 2014. And if I listen closely, I can still hear those cameras shuttering, the ones that marked the beginning of this beautiful pink dream we’re in today…

Until next time,

Law xx