Valentino Pre-Fall 2025 Milan

[jeremydante]

Is this Gucci?

Yes, à la grounds for termination.

 

[Vikingtop]

I am not a Fan if his geandmother styling, many things ARE beautiful but would be improved with a more minimal and not so decorated styling.

HOWEVER.... I have been to a Valentino Store lately, everything looks precious and desirable in this sourrounding.... AT GUCCI however things looked cheap and bland

 

[Creative]

You know, I was having lunch with somebody from Valentino and he told me they are doing sooooo bad now, even worse than with PPP.

Allegedly, they had all the teams trained on Chinese customers cause they expected to sell a lot to them, but they have 0 Chinese and locals don’t even go to the stores anymore…

Again, allegedly, they are suffering a lot, cutting costs from everywhere…

 

[tourbillions]

Only few collections in and im aleeady tired. The basic stuff is too basic and the overdone looks are costumes.

 

[Xone]

cutting costs from everywhere…

They can start with AM lol....
Honestly he is the joke of the town....

 

[PDFSD]

You know, I was having lunch with somebody from Valentino and he told me they are doing sooooo bad now, even worse than with PPP.

Allegedly, they had all the teams trained on Chinese customers cause they expected to sell a lot to them, but they have 0 Chinese and locals don’t even go to the stores anymore…

Again, allegedly, they are suffering a lot, cutting costs from everywhere…

true i have same/similar info but its very early ..... i think in a year we can see what is actually picked up by the market .....it will be interesting because on one side o do think that oversaturation of minimal and modern design is having a fatigue and something new should come or start in 2025 .....maybe its something more warmer and already seen and comfortinging or totally different

 

[Phuel]

You know, I was having lunch with somebody from Valentino and he told me they are doing sooooo bad now, even worse than with PPP.

Allegedly, they had all the teams trained on Chinese customers cause they expected to sell a lot to them, but they have 0 Chinese and locals don’t even go to the stores anymore…

Again, allegedly, they are suffering a lot, cutting costs from everywhere…

Chinese customers nowadays catch on very fast to gimmicks/tricksies/fads and will abandon a brand in a heartbeat if they sense the staleness. And this Valentino is so past its Gucci shelf-date expiration before it even has a chance to establish itself. He’s so painfully limited/lazy/corporate.

Sort of a shame, because there are some solid separates amongst so much insufferable, dated juvenile thriftstore stench. The same lazy stench he’s pushed at Gucci— but maybe even ripping off Anna Sui this time, just with a bigger budget. All the dork/wallflower/introvert tweens that obsessed over his Gucci have grown up, and rather than grow up alongside them, he’s still playing dressup in his grandmother’s closet in 1979. Why he can’t/won’t read the room and just change the branding— along with taking out the horrendously lazy retro-wholesale 1980s Quinceanera dresses that doesn’t even look cool on Keira Knightly, is either a case of his inflated ego insisting on porting his Gucci wholesale without the slightest effort to integrate into Valentino; or just his unbearably limited talent; or lazy marketing-- but likely all three. More than anything, I’m very superficial and as long as the reliably insufferable Jared Leto is always associated with him and any brand he’s involved with, I stay far far far from that brand.

 

[Lola701]

true i have same/similar info but its very early ..... i think in a year we can see what is actually picked up by the market .....it will be interesting because on one side o do think that oversaturation of minimal and modern design is having a fatigue and something new should come or start in 2025 .....maybe its something more warmer and already seen and comfortinging or totally different

You express perfectly my concern.
Ok, people have decided that quiet luxury is dead (even though minimalism is not a trend to me) but is the answer to that the exact same thing we had before?

I feel like the industry and fashion at large hasn’t had time to miss Alessandro Michele as it is now.

They are literally still selling in Gucci outlets things from his era.
I think at Gucci, some freshness was welcomed but I don’t think that explaining to people, historic customers of Valentino that underneath all that dusty styling, there’s a direct reference to Valentino Circa 1976 is enough to convince them that the aesthetic they have for so long associated with Gucci is now Valentino.

PPP didn’t have HITS in RTW but the reception of his Couture really gave an aura to his tenure. Maybe Alessandro will manage to do the same.

I just hope that his proposition for Couture won’t be about archives pieces styled together again.

 

[JohannesL]

If his Gucci formular doesn’t work at Valentino, he might have to switch up like Hedi did at Celine at the beginning, but I am not that confident of him being capable of giving the Valentino a new identity. By betting on recreating Michele’s Gucci success at Valentino, I think they can start from Michele’s first collection at Gucci (which is quite a fresh take at that time) with a similar minimal approach at Valentino instead of a continuation of his last Gucci collection. In retroepect, the Valentino by Maria Grazia and Pierpaolo is actually good when comparing with Pierpaolo’s solo tenure and Michelle’s Gucci beginning.

 

[disco54]

Somebody needs to tell AM its not 2015 its 2025 now lol
They need a stylist to tell AM when sh!t is inappropriate and mentally get off that island Peter Pan is on. This is just comical now.

He does know how to tailor well tho, this is quite impeccable

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He needs to focus on this and less on looking like a walking museum exhibit.

 

[Phuel]

@JohannesL : HIs debut offering was too sparse and simple to generate the kind of feeding frenzy that will generate billions for his handlers.

I feel like the industry and fashion at large hasn’t had time to miss Alessandro Michele as it is now.

Is his brand of repurposed but wholesale thritstore/Dapper Dan aesthetic going to be missed in retrospect…???

The children snatched it up because it was new to them but they would learn that this brand of style isn’t anything fresh or new, while the casual fashion customer liked it because of the oversaturation of branding. Take away the logo/monogram and with the dressup children grown up, and it’s just expensive vintage replicas. Marc and Anna were doing thriftstore chic— and they didn’t rely on any logo/momgram/signature decades before. The fact that it was Tom’s iconic satin-trimmed velvet suit that became one of the most recognized signatures of Alessandro’s era, speaks louder than bombs, just how completely reliant he is on ripping off another with only logo/monograms as his selling point. He needs to plaster his Valentino with Dapper Dan on steroids level of logo/monogram taste if he wants his Valentino to sell.

 

[PDFSD]

the one thing that works in advantage is that the amount of things put out ......some products acc will stick Chanel and LV have similar approach in abundance of merch put out .....that best sellers always come out after one or 2 even 3 seasons and they all rely on logo´d goods.

even Hedi did a mountain of bags and acc till some stuff resonated with the market.

something that will work in advantage for new the new chanel boy as well at Chanel, by just providing ideas that will be multiplied and twisted on all the acc categories , how it worked also for KL .

 

[Lola701]

Is his brand of repurposed but wholesale thritstore/Dapper Dan aesthetic going to be missed in retrospect…???

The children snatched it up because it was new to them but they would learn that this brand of style isn’t anything fresh or new, while the casual fashion customer liked it because of the oversaturation of branding. Take away the logo/monogram and with the dressup children grown up, and it’s just expensive vintage replicas. Marc and Anna were doing thriftstore chic— and they didn’t rely on any logo/momgram/signature decades before. The fact that it was Tom’s iconic satin-trimmed velvet suit that became one of the most recognized signatures of Alessandro’s era, speaks louder than bombs, just how completely reliant he is on ripping off another with only logo/monograms as his selling point. He needs to plaster his Valentino with Dapper Dan on steroids level of logo/monogram taste if he wants his Valentino to sell.

Maybe, at some point.
I think with Alessandro, people may think of his era as an era of creativity and excess and fun but I don’t think he had breakthrough collections except his first 2 ones.
People talk about the twins show because it’s a moment not because the clothes or the statement around fashion mattered.

Personally, I always go back to his first 3 collections (Men’s and Women’s FW2015 and resort 2016). I loved all his campaigns and that’s it.
However, in terms of products, I still love all the pieces I own from his time at Gucci. I see a lot of people selling their Gucci by Michele but the pieces that I have RTW and accessories can be actually classified as timeless (by my metric).
But then again what I loved from Alessandro was his tailoring, the silk and chiffon blouses, the princetown and the Dyonisus.

I feel like people bought a lot of bomber jackets, embroidered jeans and stuff.

 

[JohannesL]

Why don’t they just call Theyskens for Valentino?

 

[reese06]

You know, I was having lunch with somebody from Valentino and he told me they are doing sooooo bad now, even worse than with PPP.

Allegedly, they had all the teams trained on Chinese customers cause they expected to sell a lot to them, but they have 0 Chinese and locals don’t even go to the stores anymore…

Again, allegedly, they are suffering a lot, cutting costs from everywhere…

Maybe he will be forced to pivot.

Hedi was able to after his first collection. Although the circumstances were different. The general fashion crowd was mostly ready to hate Hedi and he lived up to their expectations with a dated “topshop” collection. I think the general public were optimistic mostly for Michele’s return even if worried he would do more of the same.

Surely they won’t allow him to produce these huge collections- and Alessandro likes to create even way more than what is shown- if the sales are not there.

Why don’t they just call Theyskens for Valentino?

Sabotage…You want the brand to absolutely tank?!!

 

[tricotineacetat]

Guys. As much as I would approve of Olivier Theyskens at any given historic couture house (and let‘s face it, in terms of style, he would match better with Dior than J.W. Anderson), I have come to accept that designers are chosen for different qualities today.

The majority of designers I admired in my formative years in the industry have (much like Olivier) closed their fashion brands. We saw how Haider Ackermann struggled. Chalayan, Narciso Rodriguez and many others closed during Covid. The early to mid 2000s were a great time to for independent designers. There was an infrastructure of independent retailers of which most no longer exist today that supported them along with sponsors who made it possible so that emerging talents could show during London Fashion Week. That was before Jacquemus or Vetements became a blueprint for success build on clever marketing and not a particularly strong artistry.

I strongly believe the number of collections issued by the leading brands is too much for designers like Olivier who really are sensitive artist personalities rather than marketeers like Jacquemus.

 

[Phuel]

^^^ The unfortunate reality is that Olivier’s time has passed. Although he is a very versatile talent, as proven with his Theory engagement. All the same, that brand of versatility, even pragmatism, isn’t in demand these days that would translate to the sort of profits that corporations demand. Jacquemus and Balenciaga, as much as they’re a plague on fashiondom (and I’ll admit I still admire Demna although I wouldn’t touch his wears with a 10 mile pole), are the templates that CEOs salivate over. Demna is still ahead of the game, even with all the gross trolling. I was watching this police bodycam episode, with some smalltime runner being apprehended on the highway to Vegas. The wannabe thug was a walking billboard for logos/brands, had on Balenciaga sneakers that even the police recognized and asked him how much he paid for them LMFAO So maybe Demna is persona non greta on TFS, but he’s still relevant in pop culture and to the casual fashion fan.

What gives me a bit of hope is that someone like Haider, is having a renaissance of sort: He is by definition, someone who is as niche and as exclusive as Olivier. But he still managed to be installed at Tom Ford, and managed to land as Canada Goose CD, the most irritatingly commercial brand in the market. (...In my neck of the woods, people are still being robbed for their Canada Goose parkas by children LOL)

Maybe, at some point.
I think with Alessandro, people may think of his era as an era of creativity and excess and fun but I don’t think he had breakthrough collections except his first 2 ones.
People talk about the twins show because it’s a moment not because the clothes or the statement around fashion mattered.

Personally, I always go back to his first 3 collections (Men’s and Women’s FW2015 and resort 2016). I loved all his campaigns and that’s it.
However, in terms of products, I still love all the pieces I own from his time at Gucci. I see a lot of people selling their Gucci by Michele but the pieces that I have RTW and accessories can be actually classified as timeless (by my metric).
But then again what I loved from Alessandro was his tailoring, the silk and chiffon blouses, the princetown and the Dyonisus.

I feel like people bought a lot of bomber jackets, embroidered jeans and stuff.

His intentionally cheap and ugly Dapper Dan/Asian knockoff merch were by far a phenomenon that the masses devoured— and set an unfortunate template for how high fashion is consumed to this day.

The reality is that every designer— no matter how limited in talent, how tacky and cheap, how uninspired they may be, will always have some separates that are worthy: Even the likes of TFS’s public enemies DSquared2 and Phillip Plein will have some solid separates if given a fair chance (…except for maybe Harris Reed). And on the flipside, every designer worthy of praise and vision always has some questionable blemishes scattered permanently from collection to collection, with some some even more questionable quality-control issues: Two of my favs— Helmut and Dries, were plagued with less than stellar construction, and forgettable designs. That Alessandro’s tailoring is solid, doesn’t excuse his consistently annoying wholesale-thriftstore aesthetic. He’s just not a good designer when he can’t rely on a brand’s existing clout, let alone one worthy of remembrance when it comes to the separates. I’ve always maintained that his Gucci's branding was always superior (even if I despise his brand of casting, retro aesthetic, and even more his sensibility), making him a more tolerable stylist than he is ever as a designer.

 

[plentyofhorns]

Chinese customers nowadays catch on very fast to gimmicks/tricksies/fads and will abandon a brand in a heartbeat if they sense the staleness. And this Valentino is so past its Gucci shelf-date expiration before it even has a chance to establish itself. He’s so painfully limited/lazy/corporate.

Sort of a shame, because there are some solid separates amongst so much insufferable, dated juvenile thriftstore stench. The same lazy stench he’s pushed at Gucci— but maybe even ripping off Anna Sui this time, just with a bigger budget. All the dork/wallflower/introvert tweens that obsessed over his Gucci have grown up, and rather than grow up alongside them, he’s still playing dressup in his grandmother’s closet in 1979. Why he can’t/won’t read the room and just change the branding— along with taking out the horrendously lazy retro-wholesale 1980s Quinceanera dresses that doesn’t even look cool on Keira Knightly, is either a case of his inflated ego insisting on porting his Gucci wholesale without the slightest effort to integrate into Valentino; or just his unbearably limited talent; or lazy marketing-- but likely all three. More than anything, I’m very superficial and as long as the reliably insufferable Jared Leto is always associated with him and any brand he’s involved with, I stay far far far from that brand.

Honestly this website has the best roasts I’ve ever seen 😭 absolutely ruthless bunch