The Goddess Venus is a Roman deity who represented beauty, love, sex, fertility and prosperity. She is popularly depicted from the 1486 Sandro Botticelli painting as a beautiful woman, standing on a scallop shell, gazing into the viewer’s eyes with a glimmer of innocence in her own. Is it possible that Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli attempted to incorporate the essence of a Goddess through 19th Century style togas to showcase a perception of innocence through an artist’s eyes?

The long white leather straps tied at the waist reveals innocence on the edge of being lost, and the pale complexion of the make-up gave the models a look of mysterious purity. Furthermore the soft, goddess-like togas contrasted with Roman fashion as the pockets in the dresses transported us to the casual modern day woman. The gladiator sandals (take notes, Karl Lagerfeld) gave the collection a look of elegance and ease, and the flowing togas looked care-free and easy to move around in.

I think that this collection used the stereotypical views of females throughout history and shaped the clothes loosely and flowing to show the barriers that women have overcome through time, to create a feeling of freedom and femininity that women hadn’t been given the chance to express in before. All this, whilst retaining the sheer elegance of a Goddess who represents everything there is about a woman.

I loved...

Simple toga's to express purity in its simplest form.

White leather straps wrapped around the waist, holding the dress in.

Soft blues that show Roman Goddess beauty.

Pockets to channel a casual promiscuity and lust a female can possess.

I disliked...

A design that conceals femininity rather than revealing it.

 (All Images from Style.com)