Giambattista Valli on Staging His First-Ever Bridal Fashion Show in Barcelona—And Why His Wedding Designs Are “Personalities”

Speaking to Valli after the show, he notes that his initial forays into bridal grew from custom requests into something bigger fairly quickly. “It comes out from many people asking me,” he tells Vogue. “I’m both so lucky to do the most incredible weddings and the most incredible women coming to me and asking me to do projects with them. It’s almost become a statement to wear a Giambattista Valli wedding dress. I didn’t want to keep that kind of elite corner only for haute couture. But, I wanted to share with a larger group of friends, from a geographical point of view.”

Valli expresses that his collections are meant for those who want to have a certain lifestyle and feeling on their wedding day and beyond. “It’s a mental position of a woman, and you can find it all over the world,” he explains. “So I’m going to interpret these wedding dresses for a very broad market. There’s always a Valli girl around looking for something extraordinary that comes from the haute couture universe, that is one of a kind, and has an excellence when making it.” The designer notes that he doesn’t want his gowns to be too traditional or rigid. “It’s for a party, a happy moment, and a fun time to share together,” says Valli. “You can share it barefoot on a tropical beach, in a villa in Tuscany or the South of France, in Japan, in Mexico, in the Middle East, or wherever it is. The style has to be adaptable in a Valli way to a different location or a different personality. That is very important.”