Dear Shaded Viewers,
Valentino wasted no time in appointing Alessandro Michele as the new Creative Director, following Pieropaolo Piccioli ‘s departure less than a week ago. For his new role, Alessandro Michele will be based in Rome, the creative heart of the Couture House, a city where it was founded in 1960.
This appointment signifies the beginning of a new creative journey aimed at showcasing the brand’s unique values, heritage, and Couture codes worldwide, leveraging Alessandro Michele’s unique perspective and wealth of experience.
“Over the past twelve years, we have dedicated our time and resources to developing the brand and the business of Maison Valentino into a Couture House, built on the unique legacy and creativity of Mr. Valentino Garavani, representing the epitome of elegance and beauty. We have successfully grown its reputation and size by fivefold, while earning the loyalty and appreciation of our customers.
Alessandro Michele’s appointment marks a new milestone for Maison Valentino. Michele is an exceptional talent, and his appointment underscores our great ambitions for Maison Valentino. I am confident that with his creativity and unique sensibility, he will continue to highlight the brand’s timeless heritage and the unique identity of the Italian Couture House.
With Alessandro, a new chapter of excellence and infinite beauty is ready to be written in Valentino’s history.” – Rachid Mohamed Rachid, Chairman Valentino
“I am very happy and excited to work again with Alessandro Michele after years of collaboration. His talent, creativity, and profound intelligence, always combined with a wonderful lightness, will write another chapter of Maison Valentino. I am certain that the reinterpretation of the Maison’s Couture codes and the heritage created by Mr. Valentino Garavani, combined with Alessandro’s extraordinary vision, will bring us moments of great emotion and result in irresistibly desirable objects.” – Jacopo Venturini, CEO Valentino
“It is an incredible honor for me to be welcomed into Maison Valentino. I feel immense joy and great responsibility to join a Couture House where the word ‘beauty’ is engraved in a collective history, made of distinctive elegance, refinement, and extreme grace.
My first thought goes to this history: the richness of its cultural and symbolic heritage, the constant wonder it evokes, the very precious identity given with their wildest love by the founders, Valentino Garavani and Giancarlo Giammetti. These references have always been an essential source of inspiration for me, and I will praise this influence through my own interpretation and creative vision.
My deepest gratitude, of course, goes to Rachid Mohamed Rachid who has offered me this unique and irreplaceable opportunity. His trust is a gift of the soul that I will endeavor to cherish through my work and total dedication.
My gratitude towards Jacopo Venturini is boundless, limitless. Returning to work with him is a wonderful dream come true. Jacopo is not only an extraordinary professional, capable of combining pragmatism and strategic vision, competence, and sensitivity. He is above all a man capable of celebrating the love of life every day, through his passions and care.
Today, I search for words to denote joy, to consider it, to truly convey what I feel: the smiles bursting from the chest, the happiness of gratitude lighting up the eyes, that precious moment when necessity and beauty reach out and meet. But joy is such a living thing that I fear to hurt it if I dare to utter its name. May my reverence, arms wide open, speak for itself and salute in this early spring the regeneration of life and the promise of a new blossoming.” – Alessandro Michele, Creative Director Valentino
Alessandro Michele’s first collection will be presented during Paris Fashion Week – Spring/Summer 2025.
