At London fashion week, sculpting is fashion’s not-so-distant cousin, and floristry is Daniel del Valle’s best friend, maybe baking too, if we’re being generous. Thevxlley’s debut (spelled cryptically for what is, ultimately, the valley), was the natural result. Very original, rooted, and could honestly double as an art exhibition. Whether it’s really wearable is still up to discussion (I’d happily do it, for the record).
The collection was named ‘The Narcissist’ and it was in no rush. The preparation was three years long, and it showed, in the best way possible. Daniel del Valle is a small town guy, a small town near Andalusia’s Seville kind of guy. At 19, he landed in London and survived the classic restaurant grind, until he floated into the florist world with Paul Thomas Flowers, a luxury staple where arranging blooms meets high-end London. At some point he worked with Michaela Stark, underwear that literally bends bodies, (which shows too), before going solo.
With the first note of the grand piano echoing, sitting in a corner of a delicate room at the Ladbroke Hall, what looked more like sculptures than garments started coming down the runway. The opening bodice could pass for armor, if armor wore ribbons and sculpted flowers, a tip of the hat to his grandmother, the one who handed him a needle as a kid. Then came bodices made entirely from little pots, mosaics with a vase here, an ashtray there. At some point, my eyes landed on what I swear were pain de mie, those very French loaves of bread with the impossibly soft crust. Not sure I nailed the category, but bread it was, a piece made in collaboration with his father, a baker back home, of course. This was exactly the moment I thought it couldn’t get any wilder, but boy, was I wrong.
What followed was a trio of silhouettes that could have been urns. The first was ceramic, in a blue-and-white floral pattern that instantly took me to a Greek island. The second was covered in snail shells, taking me from a tropical forest to a Parisian diner. The third took me back to the first. It was structured like a wooden crinoline with tiny vases nestling in its gaps, each blooming with its own flowers, some practically blue-and-white doppelgängers. Seven looks later, and a dress had its very own table. Guess what was on it…
Most of these pieces made me question whether they could survive off the model, but Del Valle cleared it with Vogue, “Ideally, I see the pieces in a gallery space or a museum. I know it’s a fashion collection, but I consider the pieces as sculptures, not garments. And when I designed them, I was also thinking how they would work as an object, not just as clothes.”
