The Valentino designers Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli closed the haute couture season in Paris this evening with a collection that was as delicately beautiful as it looked lovely to wear.
Over the past five years, the Roman-born designer pairing have reinvented this, one of fashion's great names - and a great name in haute couture in particular - making it a force to be reckoned with alongside those mighty French power houses, Dior and Chanel. Sales at Valentino are on the rise across the board and its couture business, the jewel in the maison's crown, is also booming: the size of its atelier has also increased to fulfil demand.
It's not difficult to see why. If an unashamedly bucolic mood has dominated the runways this week, here it was at its most controlled, delicate and finely executed. Corsetry (a first here) was narrow, revealing and romantic but never vulgar: Marie Antoinette in the gardens of Versailles sprang to mind. Tiered and ruffled silk dresses moved around the body gently: they were ethereal but never overblown. Worn with capes, buttoned up to the throat, they looked sublime.
At its best, couture is filled with emotion. Even the notion of clothes lovingly cut, sewn and embellished entirely by hand is a moving one. This collection spelt that out for all to see. 'Amore' appeared across the bodice of a strapless gown. Hearts, flowers and folkloric motifs were equally warm - and ultra-feminine - in flavour.
At the end of the show the two designers stepped out to take their bows and were met with roars of approval. As elegant in person as their work might suggest, they have by now become a much loved part of the French fashion establishment and deservedly so.