Today, we got up close and personal with Alessandro Michele’s Valentino.
The creative director held the house’s Fall show inside a dystopian, David Lynchian reconstruction of a public bathroom. The space was awash in a red light, and the walls were flanked by basic sinks and mirrors as well as doors to toilet stalls. Guests had fun peeking inside, only to find that they were empty—there’s really only room for toiles at Valentino, not toilets.
But the show did begin with a loud flush that roared through the speakers as rows of bare feet appeared on the ground of each stall, visible under the bottom of the doors. The lights flickered, and after a few beats, techno music blared. Models of varying ages started walking through the stalls, the doors clicking shut behind them. The music was interspersed with the clacking of shoes on the floor and more flushing. You know, the kinds of noises you might hear when you're doing your business in a public restroom.
The clothes, however, did not befit a bathroom visit. Michele’s collection was all fantasy and unhinged glamour—his specialty. The bathroom was merely a way to explore the idea and power of intimacy, Michele said in his post-show press conference. “There is the idea of dressing ourselves, who we are,” he notes. “There is our intimate relationship with garments and then also, there was something very intimate in Valentino’s designs—it’s an intimate relationship with creation.”
Michele specifically borrowed from what he called Valentino’s “golden era” of the 1960s and 1980s. He made sheer body stockings and lingerie come alive with delicate lace, twisted knot detailing, and ladylike bows.
He added fur trim in odd places to dresses and coats and piled on textures, and crafted stunning, substantial outerwear, some with big shoulders, while also balancing the heaviness out with ruffles and fluid fabrics.
There was a continuation of the new vintage-esque bags and shoes, and most of the looks were topped off with balaclavas or stocking caps. Some pieces, like the gown with a sheer nude top and a fur-trimmed train and deep v-slit up the front of the skirt, made the models look as though they were in various states of undress.
“Inside and outside” was a phrase Michele also used a couple of times when describing the collection, explaining that, in many ways, these looks were about concealing and revealing. “Nakedness, I really like that,” he said with a smirk. “Seeing buttocks and backs, we are used to seeing that in antique sculptures in Rome. I'm really used to nakedness, and now young people think about it differently—we are always naked on Instagram.”
The bathroom setting was about creating an equalizer, a common place where intimate things happen between us and strangers. And the clothes were about our freedom to choose our own intimate adventure, to be as naked or as vulnerable as we want.
Valentino Ready to Wear Fall Winter 2025
