Paris fashion: Valli is delicately feminine

The muted colour palette of mainly black-and-white set the tone for lauded Italian designer Giambattista Valli’s low-key but effective collection on Monday.

Fastidious embroideries and decorations — that clad delicately feminine A-line skirts and dresses — drew power from their monochrome subtly and did not arrest the eye.

Design choices such as these always make Valli a standout on the Paris Fashion Week calendar.

But the focus of the silhouette in this rather racy collection was all on the bust.

In most of the 45 looks, eyeballs were drawn firmly to the chest — in sexy exposed bras, bodice tops that hung with tiny straps, bands across the torso, sheer shirts that exposed lingerie underneath, and diaphanous shoulder-less dresses that were cut just above the breast.

It was the sexiest collection the designer has produced in seasons.