The debut of Alessandro Michele, whom everyone had been waiting for since his appointment at Valentino, was scheduled for September of this year, as part of the spring-summer 2025 ready-to-wear season. But Michele was ahead of the curve and this morning. I showed an impressive collection (171 looks), which I compiled in just a couple of months. “I’ll probably be remembered as someone who had the ability to get things done quickly,” he joked. And yet, we long for a large-scale version and a show that opens the doors to the designer’s new universe.
The first Avant les Débuts collection is almost a tribute to Valentino Garavani’s white Sfilata Bianca collection from 1968. Michele says that these months have been a deep dive into the archives, a true hidden treasure that the designer has carefully studied to create a “ royal costume.” And this costume has the elegance and complexity of execution inherent to Garavani himself. “I talk deeply about the clothes he created and his life, and many times I had the impression that he was sitting next to me,” he said.
At the same time, we see a lot of Michele himself, his love of decoration, “excesses” and the right details. “Valentino was never a minimalist, but a maximalist, even in the 70s, when he was at his peak,” adds Alessandro. “There was always a very Roman sense of wealth and excess in his work, distilled by an obsession with beauty.” Here the new creative director continues his reflections on the topic of androgyny.
In Resort 2025 we see impeccable white coats with fur and diamonds. Michele combines the first with lace stockings, elegant low-heeled shoes with a bow, large pearls and a silk turban; the second is mixed with a tweed miniskirt, knee-high socks and a fringed bag (the kind that could be found in the early Saint Laurent lookbooks), and the third is combined with knitted gloves and a headband. Find the perfect biker gloves for a ruffled dress and a fur coat, tie the laces of some sneakers like ribbons around your ankle, add a dozen different prints to the Turkish cucumber midi skirt, and add lurex pants , also in gold, to a jacket with gold embroidery. Their beautiful chocolate-colored trapezoidal ponchos are very reminiscent of archival Valentino dresses, and the fur hats combined with a tweed kimono are the same ones worn by almost all Soviet children.
A special treat for the eyes and additional hours of study: 98 photographs of accessories, bags and shoes. Pearls on the neck and in the ears, beautiful bows in the hair, ribbons as headbands and belts, shoulder bags, mules and even slippers, buried in floral prints, a turban and several cuffs at the same time in a single look.
Of course, the designer is just beginning to shape this wonderful new world of Valentino around him and us, remembering the impeccability and sophistication of the “last emperor of Italian fashion” and not forgetting Michele’s uncompromising style.
