Valentino FW25: From Romantic Refinement to Conceptual Dissection

At Paris Fashion Week, the expectations around Alessandro Michele’s sophomore womenswear show at the helm of Valentino were sky-high. With a collection that blurred the lines between the personal and the performative titled “Le Méta-Théâtre des Intimités”, he explored the concept of intimacy not as a space of authenticity but as yet another stage—a constant performance where identity is built through layers, both literal and metaphorical. And whose aesthetics raised the usual question marks which target creative directors with a specific modus operandi, anywhere they’d go.

Michele’s press release was a dense, philosophical meditation on intimacy, performance, and identity. Citing Wittgenstein, Foucault, and Valéry among others, he argued that there is no true self beneath our social performances—only the constant act of dressing and undressing. The show’s set, a dystopian public restroom, embodied the concept: a liminal space where private rituals of self-presentation become public acts. As expected gender fluidity, historical pastiche, and character dressing took center stage while deconstructing the notion of depth and surface, where no true self exists but only a series of performances dictated by the social and cultural structures we navigate daily.

There was a studied elegance to the tailoring, but also an intentional rawness in the way pieces were constructed and deconstructed. Lace, silk and fur were back in full-force amongst a few nods to his latest (and first-ever) Haute Couture collection, such as the harlequinesque lingerie-inspired dress that featured shades of blue, ochre and pink rhombuses. The tension between structure and fluidity, masculine and feminine, exposure and concealment felt like clothes were carrying the imprint of past lives, reinforcing the idea that identity is fluid and shifting. Studs mixed with seashells on the accessories, reflecting the designer’s ability of mix- matched extravaganza. A collaboration with Vans shoes made its appearance on the catwalk, finally exposing Michele’s signature onto Valentino’s elegant quintessence, resulting in a skate shoe of irreverent juxtaposition: heritage couture colliding with streetwear subculture, where high and low no longer exist as rigid binaries but as elements in conversation. As per usual, his fascination with cinematic surrealism manifested itself in both the casting and the show’s eerie atmosphere. The dimly lit, red-Valentino-hued space that resembled a public restroom recalled David Lynch’s uncanny worlds, where the ordinary becomes unsettling. Models moved through the space as if caught between moments, adjusting their garments, glancing at their reflections, embodying the in-betweenness of self-presentation. The soundscape, a mix of muffled conversations and echoes of water dripping, reinforced the theme of fragmented identities and added to a sense of unease. Thus, the audience is fed a very specific, rigid intellectual framework.

The soundscape, a mix of muffled conversations and echoes of water dripping, reinforced the theme of fragmented identities and added to a sense of unease. Thus, the audience is fed a very specific, rigid intellectual framework. With this Valentino Fall Winter 2025 collection, Alessandro Michele reaffirmed his craft to turn fashion into a conceptual discourse. With “Le Méta-Théâtre des Intimités”, he is asking profound questions about selfhood, intimacy, and the performance of identity, challenging the audience to reconsider what they mean in a world where every gesture, every outfit, every moment of self-expression is mediated by societal expectations. Shaping trends rather than chasing them, with an ongoing meta-theatre where fashion is both costume and critique, his Valentino does not shift away from the emotional resonance that made it such a powerhouse in recent years. Although today, Michele’s version leans more towards philosophy, questioning rather than seducing.

The explosion of visual stimuli that dictated Michele’s tenure at Gucci is now translated into an intellectualised commentary that lingers between alienation and inspiration, with a more mature, poetic quality suggesting a patina of wear, an imprint of past performances lingering on the fabric. Leaving behind riotous prints, textures pick up Valentino's introspective twist.

Quoting from Valentino FW25 press release: “We might as well understand that, in the end, also the deepest intimacy of all is a theatre. Or rather a meta-theatre in the theatre of existence: a backstage space-time that exhibits the features of a never-ending performance. A mysterious and multifaceted representation in which we choose to address the fundamental question: "Who are we?". And yet, although apparently we thought of having known Alessandro Michele’s fashion vocabulary and the necessary syllogisms to reach a conclusion, he is still able to persuade and reinvent his wordings into coinages that resonate with the public—when in person, especially.

Courtesy: Valentino

Text: Giorgia Feroldi