October 6, 2025 |
Alessandro Michele is a romantic and thinks like a poet. He framed his show with a self-penned essay about the film maker, actor and poet, Pier Paolo Pasolini who used fireflies resisting the darkness of night as a metaphor for resistance against fascism and its cultural flattening. Michele believes fashion can also be a bright spot in a dark world, if it’s beautiful and transporting enough.
Referencing the opulent Rome of Valentino’s heady, Eighties era, Michele sent out ruched party jackets fastened with bows at neck and hem and worn with satin trousers. There were ruched pencil skirts paired with big-shouldered sheer blouses and lavishly sequinned gowns. Wherever the Valentino woman is going, her mood is always cocktail. Even high-waisted jeans came with a vivid quilted clementine silk jacket cinched with a velvet bow at the waist.
Michele is known for his maximalist aesthetic but this show felt more pared down than usual with undone hair and make-up. Nevertheless, these are clothes for people with a sense of occasion, a love of colour and a desire to wear sequins at any time of the day or night. Bright lights in the dark.
Photography courtesy of Valentino.
