Hasta La Ideas

The Somerset House show on the work of Italian fashion designer Valentino has an appropriately elegant identity, exhibition graphics and accompanying catalogue courtesy of Studio Frith

The show features 130 haute couture designs as worn by the likes of Grace Kelly and Sophia Loren, preceded by a glimpse into Valentino’s rarefied world via his archive and, finally, a section on the painstaking process of creating the garments on show. This last section provides the inspiration and name of a bespoke typeface used for the show named ‘Les Petites Mains’ after the ladies who hand make all the couture dresses.

Above is the die-cut private view invitation with pages like petals to show the line from the poem by Gertrude Stein ‘Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose’. (The rose is the emblem of the fashion designer Valentino.)

Timelines trace Valentino’s career to date

Signage in the show makes reference to the dressmaking process, using dress pattern paper and pins as fixings

The catalogue is designed to be read and held like a personal photo album, featuring images never before published from Valentino and his partner Giancarlo Giametti’s private albums, as well as a portfolio of images given to Valentino by the photographer Deborah Turbeville.

CR in Print
The January issue of Creative Review is all about the Money – well, almost. What do you earn? Is everyone else getting more? Do you charge enough for your work? How much would it cost to set up on your own? Is there a better way of getting paid? These and many more questions are addressed in January’s CR.

But if money’s not your thing, there’s plenty more in the issue: interviews with photographer Alexander James, designer Mirko Borsche and Professor Neville Brody. Plus, Rick Poynor on Anarchy magazine, the influence of the atomic age on comic books, Paul Belford’s art direction column, Daniel Benneworth-Gray’s This Designer’s Life column and Gordon Comstock on the collected memos, letters and assorted writings of legendary adman David Ogilvy.

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