Two years after leaving Gucci (was he pushed or did he jump?), Alessandro Michele has just debuted his first catwalk collection for Valentino.
The jury’s still mulling over the exact reasons for his sudden departure from the Italian label in 2022. He’d been at the helm for seven years and in that time had thoroughly turned its sleek minimalism upside down and rocket fuelled its growth. But toward the end, revenues had slowed. They were still ahead of many brands, but not the 25 to 30 per cent annual leaps of his early years there. Maximalism is over and out, pronounced the sages. Labels everywhere, from Max Mara to Mango embraced tailored minimalism.
But is minimalism about to get kicked to the four winds? Chloé’s show last week was a frill fest. Saint Laurent’s creative director took a detour into the label’s ruffled, brocaded and flouncy Studio 54 era.
Now Valentino is plunging back into the more is more school of dressing. Having teased the fashion world back in June, with a collection of 171 (count them) looks, which he launched exclusively online, Michele brought a mere 84 to the Paris catwalks. That’s still rather a lot, especially when a lot of them are variations on the same theme.
But it’s rather a good theme. Even if you’re not planning to wear any of this, there’s plenty of fun to be had scanning each look, which often comprises at least eight individual items. There are the big floppy Ascot-y hats with their feather and floral trims (haven’t seen a Pretty Woman-style hat on a catwalk since Valentino himself was still designing for his house), the woven, fringed jacket, the woven, fringed dress, the snakeskin boots, the chunky three-string necklaces, the face jewellery, the chain-handled bags, the lace gloves. To be clear: this is one single outfit.
There was much in this vein and while layer upon layer can leave onlookers with a sugar rush, stripped back, many of the individual clothes – tiered chiffon dresses, a long black waistcoat embroidered with gold leaves, fake fur coats (back in Valentino’s day they would have been real) – are lovely.
The internet inevitably had its own views. Bring back Pierpaolo Piccioli, who left Valentino last year, was the gist. I loved what Piccioli did (was he pushed or did he jump?), but arguably, Michele’s version is truer to Valentino, who really wasn’t much of a fan of minimalism.
“I spent a lot of time looking at his work,” says Michele backstage. “He had so much love for beauty and what we would call frivolousness. But frivolity isn’t useless. It’s important to have something light in life.”
Beribboned, bowed, pleated and frilly, Valentino shows in the 1970s, 80s and 90s were for ladies who didn’t eat much lunch and spent most of their time getting dressed. Michele added some undressing into the mix – the new Valentino woman, in his eyes, flits about in the filmiest negligees like a latter day courtesan from one of Colette’s novels.
Does that woman exist today? Will she appreciate this complete change of direction at Valentino? Are there enough Gucci customers, who don’t like the new vibe there, ready to transfer allegiance? (Florence Welch, a frequent flyer of the Gucci flag when Michele was there, was front row at Valentino, so were Harry Styles, Carla Bruni and Karen Elson, who was wearing a Valentino turban).
Can Michele’s genius at creating hit accessories translate well for Valentino, a house that hasn’t had a notable bag or shoes since 2008’s Rockstuds? Very possibly. I spied more than one pair of chocolate brown flat sling-back ballet pumps on the catwalk (and a version on Michele himself, backstage) that bore more than a passing reference to Chanel’s.That begs a whole load more questions.
Is the fashion industry in a tizzy over declining sales across the board? Should we expect more musical chairs at the top houses in the coming months? Could that slingback turn Valentino’s accessory fortunes around? The drama continues.
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