It was one of the most anticipated shows of the Fashion Week schedule as Alessandro Michele made an electric return to the runway as the new man at Valentino. Showing at a location on the outskirts of Paris—a very different choice for the legacy Roman house—the new creative director sent his models down a shattered glass runway symbolising the human race’s delicate psyches.
“We are fragile creatures, constantly exposed to the sense of limit. We tiptoe on mirrors that shatter under our weight,” Michele wrote in his show notes. “As we walk, no step comes without the risk of stumbling and falling. As we breathe, no breath comes without a shadow of vulnerability. We move, unstable, inside a transient horizon with no escape path. It’s this precise condition, though, that introduces us to the true meaning of our temporal dimension.”
Since his stirring, last show for Gucci in Milan in 2022 and that sneak peek at all that was to come at Valentino for Resort 2025, Michele amped up the romance and ruffles for the latter’s Spring/Summer 2025 runway collection, Pavillon des Folies. Tiered gowns, accordion collars, bolero jackets, lace hosiery and crystal nose rings couldn’t be anymore Alessandro Michele if it tried. Floor-sweeping gowns with ruffled hems and sleeves floated atop the winding runway and to the swells of a haunting piano. There were bows! Fur! Gloves! Embellishments! Headwear!
“[Beauty is] that unique capability to deeply feel and connect with something that unveils and reveals a new universe of meaning,”Michele writes. “The unspeakable of a light, the sacredness of a breast full of milk, the magnificence of a finely embroidered dress, the long lingering of soul over flesh, the majesty of the void, the pursuit of fireflies seeking love, the scent of wet soil, the touch of organza ruffles, the miracle of libraries, the delicate layers of a watercolour.”
Michele made his name leading Gucci to glory, tripling annual revenues to US$10 billion (AU$14.4 billion) during his tenure. If this collection is anything to go by, these Michele-isms stands to make Valentino a fortune.
Bravo, Michele. We’re so glad you’re back.
This story first appeared on GRAZIA International.
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