Alessandro Michele makes his Valentino debut with Cruise 2025 collection
A new era of Valentino is incoming, courtesy of Alessandro Michele. The new creative director unveiled his first looks for the house with the Cruise 2025 collection.
Just two months after his appointment as creative director, Alessandro Michele has revealed his first looks for Valentino in the house's Cruise 2025 collection. Michele was scheduled to present his debut collection for the Women's Spring/Summer 2025 season, but made the unexpected choice to show off his first Valentino looks for the Cruise 2025 collection.
Titled "Avant le Débuts," Michele presented a Cruise 2025 collection that reinforces his fascination with the label's archival styles and his staunch enthusiasm for Valentino Garavani's work and legacy.
The new creative director has said that with the development of this collection, it felt like he performed the work of an orchestra conductor, recalling Valentino's aesthetic codes and sharing his vision of artistry with the new team. "My first thought goes to this story: to the richness of its cultural and symbolic heritage, to the sense of wonder that it has constantly been able to generate, to the precious identity that its founding fathers, Valentino Garavani and Giancarlo Giammetti, gave it with love unbridled," Michele said. "These are references that have always represented an indispensable source of inspiration for me and to which I intend to pay homage by rereading them through my creative vision."
The new era of Valentino by Alessandro Michele celebrates the historical elegance of the Roman brand, finding passionate expression in the creation of over 170 looks that made up the Valentino Cruise 2025 collection. The result was a wardrobe that represents the signature of the new creative director, but also pays homage to the storied, vibrant Valentino legacy. These two philosophies of design are evident in the opulence, maximalism, and passion for beauty that have been historically cultivated by both the Maison and Michele, as seen in his days at the helm of Gucci. The new creative director confessed that for his first collection for the house, he was inspired by the grace and elegance of Valentino Garavani's "White Fashion Show" of 1968, resulting in a Valentino Cruise 2025 collection that evoked a similar sense of refinement and an elegance of bygone eras of fashion.
