The Bourgeoisie Days Are Haute Again at Valentino
Review of Valentino Spring 2025 Fashion Show
By Angela Baidoo
THE COLLECTION
THE VIBE
Maximalist Michele, daring decadence, haute history
The decrying of Alessandro Michele’s Valentino will have already started before the last model left the mirrored runway, if the noise around his Resort 2025 collection was anything to go by. However in hiring the fashion wunderkind the CEOs at Valentino were fully aware of what they were signing on for, and will be hoping that lightening will strike twice with the designer at the helm of the Italian fashion house.
It is also comical that the first feedback from the armchair critics has been to state that this collection is ‘Not Valentino!’ With the certainty that one might use to decipher between say, what is full-fat Coke and what is Coke Zero. In that case there are specifics and an exact recipe at play, but when it comes to the creative process the recipe is always tweaked by each incoming chef (aka creative director). What is also questionable in the critiques, is the fact that those who are the loudest are not for a moment taking into account that Michele has without a doubt spent months in the actual Valentino archive, unearthing prints, research materials, sketches, and swatches from a time before many of those voices of dissent were born (the brand was founded in 1960 by Valentino Garavani and Giancarlo Giammetti).
This is not to say that todays collection was beyond reproach, because as has been established with Michele, who is following the same path as that other stickler for a theme, Hedi Slimane, this is the highly stylised and thematic fashion that runs through the veins of the designer. Whatever the house, these are his rules.
An Instagram account called Valentino Archive is a visual homage to the designer, and would give an insta(nt)-education to anyone that would deny that this too is authentic Valentino, and what they miss is actually the tenure of the recently departed Pierpaolo Piccioli. Take for instance, the cropped polka-dot jacket which echoes the one worn by Iman for a spring 1985 ready-to-wear collection, for the heavily embellished conversational jackets there was the fall 2002 couture collection, and the ruffles which feature heavily across dresses and blouses were a key part of ready-to-wear for spring 2002.
One of the issues that the designer will face wherever he tenures is that his specific brand of eclecticism may not feel as revolutionary as it did almost a decade ago, when he delivered what we didn’t know we needed in embracing gender-fluidity and luxe-thrift. However now is a time we are also craving something new, and upon hearing the news that the designer was to join Valentino many were expecting a reinvention of his signature style to suit the house. From today’s collection that was not to be, but it at least confirms to anyone in doubt that Michele’s magic will always be in the modern mash-up of a vintage aesthetic.
THE DIRECTION
THE WRAP UP
Just a few days ago we got unbridled romance that reminded us of a girlish softness that has been missing on the runways, and for his debut the designer too, went to the romantic side, but this was the darker, richer, more adult kind. The kind women of a certain age (and the ageless who occupy a certain wealth bracket) will both appreciate and flock to once more.
