It was always going to be a moment. Nearly two years to the day, Alessandro Michele showed his final collection for Gucci in Milan, exiting the Italian house two months later. This afternoon in Paris, the Rome-born designer made his hotly awaited return to the runway with his debut collection for Valentino, a so-called ‘Pavillon des Folies’ which mused on the idea of contemporary beauty. ‘When I say beauty, I am clearly not referring to its universalistic, dogmatic and normative mythologisation,’ said Michele in a letter distributed to guests, which included longtime muses Harry Styles and Elton John. ‘I rather allude to that unique capability to deeply feel and connect with something.’

The show took place in the Dojo de Paris, a judo stadium in the 14th arrondissement on the city’s outer reaches. Transformed beyond recognition, the low-lit space featured a scattering of furniture and lamps covered with dust sheets, while the runway itself had the appearance of a shattered mirror. Of that, Michele – in typically esoteric style – said that ‘we are are fragile creatures, constantly exposed to the sense of limit… we tiptoe on mirrors that shatter under our weight… as we walk, no step comes without the risk of stumbling and falling.’ (Like at Gucci, his collection notes were more like a philosophical musing, here quoting Martin Heideger’s concept of ‘alètheia’, Théophile Gautier and Michel de Montaigne).

Inside Alessandro Michele’s debut show for Valentino

The collection itself evoked the eclectic, romantic – and oftentimes idiosyncratic – design signatures honed at Gucci, though there was certainly an influence from the house’s archive, as well as the bourgeois dress codes of Rome, where Valentino Garavani founded the house in the 1960s. It began with the crunch of broken glass, as out stepped the collection’s first look: a ruffled-hem black dress with a white bib and bows, worn with coloured tights and heeled pumps (bows would be a motif which ran throughout). Elsewhere looks for men and women – a continuation of his co-ed approach at Gucci – spanned romantic, marabou-trimmed gowns adorned with ruffles, louche tailoring and billowing kaftan-style tops. Floral motifs and polka dots featured across the collection.

There were also moments of play and subversion: models wore dramatic facial piercings, which appeared from ears and across noses, even the chin, while a clutch bag was evocative of a china cat. Other accessories included enormous wide-brimmed hats, some with plumes of feathers, and an array of new handbag propositions. Mostly riffs on vintage, ladylike styles – whether top-handle or flap fastening and slung over the shoulder – they came adorned with the Valentino ‘V’ motif, gobstopper studs, or in mock croc. Given his success in revitalising handbags from the Gucci archive, these will no doubt prove popular.

Michele was hired to replace Pierpaolo Piccioli, who exited Valentino earlier this year. As a designer from Rome, Michele felt an apt fit. ‘My first thought goes to this story: to the richness of its cultural and symbolic heritage, to the sense of wonder it constantly generates, to the very precious identity given with their wildest love by founding fathers, Valentino Garavani and Giancarlo Giammetti,’ he said on his appointment in March of this year, the latter a reference to Garavani’s longtime partner and Valentino co-founder. ‘These references always represented an essential source of inspiration for me, and I’m going to praise such influence through my own interpretation and creative vision.’

‘I feel the immense joy and the huge responsibility to join a maison de couture that has the word “beauty” carved on a collective story, made of distinctive elegance, refinement and extreme grace,’ he continued. This afternoon, he made his own pitch for Valentino, placing a pursuit of beauty at its centre – a vision of otherworldly romance which is entirely his own.

valentino.com