Thirty percent of Valentino now belongs to Kering and it seems the group has made a hard analysis and found out that it had to acquire an elegant Haute Couture house while it already owns an edgy one in Balenciaga. New family member Pierpaolo Piccioli came to Sabato De Sarno’s debut at Gucci (which is looking to elevate its offering by choosing Valentino’s former number 2 designer) and Sarah Burton’s farewell at Alexander McQueen. But all these trips do not seem to distract him. After a stellar Haute Couture show in July, he showed one of his best Ready-to-wear collections in recent memory which was a celebration of the female form and the most tasteful way of showing off a woman’s body. There was no lofty concept to the clothes, no forced mantra like the shirt and tie show from last season, but Piccioli simply doing what he knows best: tasteful and young at heart clothes who consider a women’s body from the mostly flat shoes used to the cool fabrics like denim and the interesting cut outs and drapes around the waist to expose the external oblique portion of the anatomy. To add a serious twist to the proceedings a live dance and singing performance of frequent Valentino collaboratrice FKA Twigs and her group, which created a magic atmosphere in the sunlit École des Beaux-Arts in St. Germain, accompanied the show.