Valentino Roman Palazzo Spring 2021 Ad Campaign

Review of Valentino Roman Palazzo Spring 2021 Ad Campaign by Creative Director Pierpaolo Piccioli and Photographer David Sims with Zendaya

An incredible ensemble comes together for Valentino’s new Roman Palazzo campaign for Spring 2021. Legendary photographer David Sims lenses Zendaya, who is no mere muse, but a powerful creative force in her own right.

The campaign smartly combines the aesthetics – and channels the spirit – of some of the last century’s most progressive artistic disciplines: jazz, avant-garde theater, punk rock, and experimental portrait photography. Through this multifaceted lens, Zendaya takes on an elevated aesthetic status as a protagonist or performer, yet also feels like her unflinchingly real self.

Throughout an aesthetic choice, it is possible to represent a whole identity. This is the power of fashion and this is the power of human beings.
— Pierpaolo Piccioli, Creative Director of Valentino

Sims films Zendaya in black and white in the backstage area and rehearsal rooms of the Palace Theater (an excellent twist of a reference to the collection’s title), where she silently reads from a script as she explores the space, herself, and her character. Sims makes use of abstract and evocative cinematography, while an ambiguous voiceover from Zendaya (are these lines from a scene? things she is saying to herself?) deepens the sense of personal expression and nuanced theatricality.

Sims’ still photography mostly takes the form of double portraits, deepening the unique sense of artistic expression, while the collection and styling paint her as a punk-rock princess or cool jazz cat.

Piccioli continues to affirm himself as one of the most thoughtful and artfully minded leaders of contemporary fashion. Brilliantly recognizing the humanist power of disparate aesthetic codes, he infuses the classic sophistication of his maison with a boldly contemporary vision of what it means to create.

Add an irrepressibly creative talent like Zendaya to the mix, and the results are show-stopping.