Avant les Débuts: Alessandro Michele has just dropped the first images of his Valentino Resort 2025 collection

Everything you need to know about the very first collection by Alessandro Michele for Valentino, which the Italian designer revealed on Monday morning on the last day of Milan menswear fashion week.

It’s Monday morning and Alessandro Michele has prepared the biggest fashion surprise: he has just dropped the very first images of his creations for Valentino, marking a new page for the Italian Brand. Just two months after his surprise nomination as creative director of the Roman House, he has already prepared a co-opted resort collection entitled in French “Avant les Débuts” in the form of a lookbook, featuring 264 images. Who needs a catwalk show, when you can diffuse the carefully curated images of the ‘70s-inspired boho-chic silhouettes? The retro images, that have been given a sort of patina look as if they have been found in the archives, convey a very Roman sense of opulence, dear to both the House’s founder and Alessandro Michele, and an obsession for beauty. Gender-fluid styling, an hommage to the completely white 1968 "Sfilata Blanca" collection, elegant turban hats and head-scarves, ruffled turtleneck blouses, A-line coats, XXL pearls and sparkling bow pins, the collection is a reflection on a mystery rendezvous between two designers. A poetical ode by Alessandro Michele to Valentino Garavani. And that’s only the beginning.

A beginning that some fashion fans and critics say looks kind of familiar to Alessandro’s Gucci era. They also say that the day of the reveal was not chosen by surprise: Gucci is supposed to show its first menswear collection under Sabato de Sarno later on the same day. Well, it’s always easy to criticise, Alessandro has a style, and of course, he brought his aesthetics to Valentino. But he gave it a completely new shine, his collection for Valentino looks more mature than anything we have seen before. As if his young Gucci gang has become adults now. After all, it’s just “Avant les Débuts” that will hit stores in September ahead of his first IRL show for Valentino. More to come!

Discover all images from the Resort 2025 collection in our gallery.

Courtesy: Valentino

Text: Lidia Ageeva