Alessandro Michele presented his fifth catwalk show for Valentino at Paris fashion week on Sunday afternoon, a collection he said played with “the idea of glamour in the wrong way”. The show featured see-through gauzy fabrics, mis-buttoned blazers and satin bustier tops, designed for the dancefloor.
A Dancefloor-Inspired Collection
The show opened with a series of satin bustier tops paired with knee-length skirts. Some skirts were almost see-through in gauzy fabrics, while others were smothered in glimmering beads or trimmed with feathers, or both. Although the show was held at the Sainte-Geneviève library, the clothes were made for the dancefloor.
The debauched partying mood dominated menswear too, with creased trousers and silky boxers peaking out above waistbands, and mis-buttoned double-breasted blazers. Michele, who has been in the top creative job for just 30 months, has already rolled out 10 collections and four catwalk shows before this one.
Mixed Reactions and Market Pressures
Reaction to Michele at Valentino has been mixed. In a turbulent luxury market, the brand's revenue declined 15% to €1.12bn in 2025. Michele's opulent outlook has been slightly out of step with fashion's vanilla era, but the reign of quiet luxury is quietly coming to a close, with “personality dressing” on the rise.
Speaking after the show, Michele described “sensuality as part of the vocabulary of the brand”. This time around, he had pared back his signature voluminous silhouettes, instead focusing on exposing skin. There were deep V-cut cotton vest tops, while some models wore brightly coloured baseball caps emblazoned with “Villain Teen”. Michele, who wore one in green, said he enjoyed the way it sounded a bit like “Villain-Teen-O”, but also liked that in Italian it's “a chic way to say you're a little outside of the rules”, adding: “Where everything is perfect, it's an elegant way to make something wrong.”
Red Carpet Strategy
Valentino is controlled by Mayhoola, which owns 70% of the company, while French luxury group Kering holds the remaining 30% and has options to increase its stake to 100% before the end of the decade. The brand's sweet spot – and key to Michele's turnaround strategy – is red carpet dressing. The collection's longer length ruffle and bow-adorned dresses had Hollywood written all over them.
In a world where red-carpet looks are increasingly captured in 360 degrees and quickly dissected on the internet, Michele knows a dress with a bit of extra oomph counts. A final hot pink dress featured a giant pleated train and huge black bow that bounced down the catwalk, grazing the audience's knees.
