Alessandro Michele - Designer, Creative Director of Valentino

[RosesAreRed]

With this show he proved to me that he can do Valentino!

I’m still a bit underwhelmed about the bass though. Are they selling, anyone knows?

 

[PDFSD]

puck news​

Valentino’s $100 Million Lifeline​

Reuters is reporting that Valentino co-owners Mayhoola and Kering are injecting an additional $100 million into the brand, which has struggled to achieve profitability in recent years.
As a refresher: Kering is supposed to assume control of Valentino from Mayhoola, but the deadline got pushed back again when new C.E.O. Luca de Meo arrived in September.

The cash infusion also comes amid questions surrounding Alessandro Michele’s future at the company—although, for what it’s worth, his last collection was well-received and performed with certain retailers, and the problems at Valentino predated his arrival.
Perhaps this capital injection is an opportunity for new Valentino C.E.O. Riccardo Bellini to make things right with his creative director.

 

[PDFSD]

SUNDAYLUX
Valentino Walzer Everybody is Talking About
In the teaser of the “Devil Wears Prada 2”, Miranda Priestly wears a pair of Valentino Rockstuds shoes…everybody asking…why OLD SHOES? Why not a pair of Alessandro Michele x Valentino styles?



As we know in fashion nothing happens by chance, and it seems very weird that old styles designed by the old duo Chiuri and Piccioli a long time ago.

And then we see them appear also on the official Valentino Instagram account…3 posts…mind blowing…are these coming from Michele? Very unlikely. So what?



As we know Valentino is troubled with high debt, recently Mayhoola and Kering (respectively 70% and 30% owners) have injected 100 million euro of fresh capital and a new CEO, Riccardo Bellini has been appointed. The acquisition deal between Mayhoola and Kering has been postponed. From retailboss.com “This pivotal transition presents a crucial crossroads: the new CEO will need to inspire confidence among stakeholders, adapt swiftly to global market trends, and reinforce the brand’s reputation for craftsmanship and creativity. The appointment of a new CEO gives Valentino a chance to evolve, balancing tradition with innovation and heritage with a bold new vision.”

From Reuters April 18, 2025 “Italian fashion house Valentino suffers 22% profit drop in 2024” and recently sales were down 2%.

Why getting back with oldies but goodies now? Is Alessandro Michele happy about it? Why the Qatari group is not taking a decision in a precise sense like it did for Balmain? Will a pair of Rockstuds help save the future of the Roman brand?

The mystery continues, we will see further developments at the next episode.

 

[Lola701]

Ironically, the other day, I was on NAP and on the front page, they showed a fabulous pair of Valentino shoes. I loved them, put them on my wishlist and screenshot them…


And now there’s this thing about DWP2.

Clearly, Michele is capable of creating beautiful things. But somehow the message at Valentino is so blurred.

Those shoes made me curious to take a look at the website. And I totally know that what we are getting on website is only on portion of what brands offers in stores but my take about his Valentino is that it’s really tough.

PPP’s stuff could in a way speak to many different women. I would have found easily something for me there. AM’s Valentino on the other hand is very difficult to take. There a few pants, a few tops and tailoring, 2/3 good shoes. Desirable enough to buy at full retail price? Not really…
And surprisingly I find his Valentino harder to take than his Gucci. I only liked the Dionysus as a bag from his Gucci but in terms of tailoring and eveningwear, it was fantastic.

Now a lot of stuff looks very old, 1980’s/early 90’s conservative fashion old. Torrente Couture kind of old.

Valentino should own the rockstud but maybe refresh it. It does look odd next to Michele’s stuff that is very vintage looking. It’s a lot of past clashing at Valentino and not a lot of future happening.

 

[PDFSD]

Ironically, the other day, I was on NAP and on the front page, they showed a fabulous pair of Valentino shoes. I loved them, put them on my wishlist and screenshot them…

View attachment 1432936
And now there’s this thing about DWP2.

Clearly, Michele is capable of creating beautiful things. But somehow the message at Valentino is so blurred.

Those shoes made me curious to take a look at the website. And I totally know that what we are getting on website is only on portion of what brands offers in stores but my take about his Valentino is that it’s really tough.

PPP’s stuff could in a way speak to many different women. I would have found easily something for me there. AM’s Valentino on the other hand is very difficult to take. There a few pants, a few tops and tailoring, 2/3 good shoes. Desirable enough to buy at full retail price? Not really…
And surprisingly I find his Valentino harder to take than his Gucci. I only liked the Dionysus as a bag from his Gucci but in terms of tailoring and eveningwear, it was fantastic.

Now a lot of stuff looks very old, 1980’s/early 90’s conservative fashion old. Torrente Couture kind of old.

Valentino should own the rockstud but maybe refresh it. It does look odd next to Michele’s stuff that is very vintage looking. It’s a lot of past clashing at Valentino and not a lot of future happening.

For him to reinterpret the rock stud is a sign of defeat, as he dislike his the two past CD´s as they aligned with Frida as well.
And since he made gucci 3x bigger he feels he is above them all 3 with his approach of bazaar instead of linear clear modern design.

Of Course ideal would been he did a new version that's his and make people forget the old rock stud but that never happened still.
The boat has past i feel the message of his Valentino is too mixed now and nothing feels new, as he did everything in the first collections already all at once and even toned down styling wont work.

There are no chapters, no starting point, he is stubborn from what i know he likes what he likes he walked away form gucci already even if the held the door for him open to leave.

I forsee the new ceo pushing for change and updates, but ultimately show that Alessandro is the block to a future success for Valentino to get back on track for the owners see this for themselves.

Kering will see Balenciaga (also fragmented weak/not new vision) also struggle and this will also put pressure for Valentino owners to not keep trying with there current bet, it will have domino effect.

People are already bored with high fashion brands this ending 2025 - 2026 it will be the new quiet luxury.

 

[jeanclaude]

Those 2012 shoes again???

 

[FashionPower]

The "OG" Miranda wouldn't be caught dead in those rockstuds, as her real counterpart Wintour she would never wear any status symbol item.
The way people started speculating the movie wouldn't be shot in current times because of them shoes LOL
I don't understand why they are revamping the shoes instead of the bags because the current bags selection is honestly unwearable.

 

[tourbillions]

no one would ever recognize the new valentino anyway.

 

[FashionPower]

no one would ever recognize the new valentino anyway.

Maybe that's a problem too.
To the common people's eyes, this Valentino will ALWAYS look like a knock off version of 2015 - 2020 Gucci's. The whole vibe gives Gucci with V logo instead of GG to the untrained eye and that's not a good thing: from the campaigns, to the styling and the casting.
No one was doing this aesthetic back in that period and it felt different and fresh (even if we are talking about thrift shop dusty granda trunk clothing).
If Miranda was wearing current Valentino, most people would have mistaken it for "vintage" Gucci LOL