Valentino's FW25 collection speaks for itself Alessandro Michele fires on all cylinders
It is curious that a loquacious creative director and philosopher like Alessandro Michele did not accompany his latest FW25 collection for Valentino with even the slightest note or written line. After all, he had accustomed us to the figure of a designer who weaves as much about semiotic issues as about the clothes he presents. Yet, this latest collection, which arrived in the form of a river-like lookbook, had no message – leading us to think that Michele believed the looks speak for themselves quite well. In fact, they do: it is somehow pleasant that the designer abandoned rhetorical efforts, whose often intense sostenuto weighs down looks already overloaded with details. In this season, then, the whirlpool of baroque style has not stopped, but if we wanted to look for a note of change compared to the previous two collections by Michele, we might perhaps find, on the one hand, moments of liberating eccentricity represented by the many accessories and maxi-embroideries featuring cats; and on the other, a sharper and more subtle eye for the wearability of the products: shoes, bags, and sunglasses mainly, but also a good dose of jeans and blazers, logo t-shirts, and plant-themed prints cleverly hidden in a profusion of Victorian blouses, capes, and jackets more embroidered than those of the Sultan of Brunei.
And having established that Michele works in terms of expansion and accumulation rather than linear evolution, scrolling through the looks of this opulent collection, dripping with meticulous details and overflowing with preciousness, makes us wonder what to expect from Michele's debut in Haute Couture. In any case, the creative director is working on something grand – but how will he outdo the creativity of such a hyperbolic ready-to-wear collection? We remain hopefully awaiting, aware that, given today’s fashion landscape, it’s better to have an Alessandro Michele than not. However, the question remains of what the designer wants to build with CEO Venturini and the brand's colossal apparatus: a new world or a cathedral in the desert?
