From Balmain to Rihanna’s Fenty Puma Show, Go Inside Gio’s Fashion Tour
For W’s glamorous globetrotter, Giovanna Battaglia Engelbert, it’s a fab, fab world, especially during the Paris collections, which took her from Olivier Rousteing’s atelier to backstage at Rihanna’s Fenty Puma show with Jourdan Dunn and Sara Sampaio.
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“The entrance to Rihanna’s Fenty Puma show at the Hôtel Salomon de Rothschild, in Paris, featured a broken chandelier. It was the perfect backdrop for this dress from my sister Sara Battaglia’s debut ready-to-wear collection. She actually made two of them, knowing full well that it would be my favorite look! For mine, she was kind enough to add a few inches to the hemline, because I’m a lady.”
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“Olivier Rousteing presented his Balmain collection at Paris’s Hôtel Potocki. I could definitely make myself at home there.”
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“The decor of my room at the Villa Cora hotel, in Florence, reminded me of Anna Dello Russo—just add a D.”
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“The clichéd photo from Caviar Kaspia, in Paris, is of a potato. I went with a pancake face instead.”
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“The British Fashion Council invited me to a breakfast at Buckingham Palace during London Fashion Week. This vintage Courrèges couture look was fit for a royal occasion.”
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“Backstage at her Fenty Puma show, Rihanna [center] and models Jourdan Dunn and Sara Sampaio reminded me of a cool version of Antonio Canova’s The Three Graces sculpture.”
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“This Gucci dress [right] is straight out of a book of 1890s–1930s fashion [left] I’ve had for ages.”
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“At the Frame denim dinner in New York, everyone received a jacket. I’ve always said Fashion Month is like a concert tour!”
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“In London, my car stopped at a light in front of this house. How cute is it? The colors and scale reminded me of a set from a Wes Anderson movie.”
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“I wanted to steal these studded leather bras from backstage at the Alexander McQueen show in Paris.”
