Valentino steps it up on a global scale. We’re talking the Roman fashion house’s celebration of its S/S 2023 Unboxing Valentino Collection which has dropped in its many flagship stores, boutiques, shop-in-shops and other depositories across the planet. The eponymous celebration comes with a collaboration with nine top fashion pros and friends of the brand. Mind you, the latest collection reveals the essence by ‘unboxing’, hence its name, removing unnecessary things and creating new expressions on the diversity of body, face, history, colour and texture. Each stylist interprets and expresses multiple meanings and messages, and ‘adopting’ a Valentino flagship store along the way where this highly personal expression is being showcased.
On home turf in Milan, Lorenzo Posocco, a stylist who shot to fame thanks to dressing up pop songstress Dua Lipa, has a display at the Valentino flagship store on Via Montenapoleone store which captures the relationship between the streetscape that unfolds daily in front of the premises and the serene world inside the store. Posocco believes cities are like hybrids that are entrusted to be looked after with purpose and relevance. By placing cube-shaped video screens featuring Milan‘s street scene within the display, the stylist pays homage to the frenetic energy of the city. Meanwhile in Dubai, at the brand’s store at The Dubai Mall, an aquamarine and gold window installation has been created by Anna dello Russo, the Milan-based editor-in-chief of Vogue Japan.
The vibrant setting uses colour blocks and a slew of exuberant props and accessories, such as feathers, fluffy objects, gloves, bags, and mannequins painted like tropical fish. At the Valentino flagship store on Omotesando dori in Tokyo, stylist Masataka Hattori has created a natural habitat of sorts which reflects the relationship between nature and architecture. Combining a natural, earthy look with layers of Valentino items for a modern, airy feel, the setting captures the relationship between the beauty of nature and the man-made object. For the retail space on the plush rue St.-Honoré shopping artery in Paris, stylist Clément Lomellini has created dynamic, colour-infused installation centred around a black gown with cut-outs and see-through fabric which highlights the body in a sensual way.
Stylist Rebecca Corbin-Murray takes on the Valentino store on Old Bond Street in London where she created an installation with yellow flowers projected against the backdrop of an all-black look, contrasting the silhouette of the look with the vibrant blooms. In this installation, the sun, buttercup, and yellow, the colour of the very core of the flower, represent the unboxing of nature, creating a bridge to a psychedelic world full of complex energies. In Shanghai, stylist Mix Wei puts Chinese painting front and centre, using five colours to create a variety of natural expressions. This window sees a backdrop of Chinese scroll paintings suspended from the ceiling, paired with five Valentino looks. The Valentino shop-in-shop at Shinsegae department store in Seoul is the domain of stylist Geum Nam Hwan who presents an installation that’s aptly dubbed Unbox Me.
Intended as a metaphor for personality as a mixture of disjointed elements, the installation comprises a puzzle of Soma Cubes, wooden blocks, and last but not least, Valentino accessories. Celebrity stylist Law Roach, the man who put Zendaya firmly on the global best-dressed list and suddenly seems to have resigned from Planet Fashion, has taken over the Valentino store in New York City‘s Soho district. A setting dipped in a bright red pays homage to the S/S 1992 Collection by designer Valentino Garavani and the related ad campaign captured by legendary lensman Steven Meisel. Last but not least, a ninth showcase is held online. Created by stylist sisters Alexandra and Mackenzie Ray Granqvist, the digital display represents the purest essence of Valentino, set against a backdrop of passionate red that evokes the beginnings of the company, featuring a suspended clustre of mannequins.
Valentino
Via Montenapoleone 20 (Duomo)
20121 Milan
Valentino
The Dubai Mall, Financial Centre Road, Ground Floor (Downtown Dubai)
Dubai
Valentino
Omotesando Hills, 4-12-10 Jingumae (Harajuku)
Tokyo 150-0001
Valentino
273 rue St.-Honoré (St.-Honoré)
75008 Paris
Valentino
39 Old Bond Street (Mayfair)
London W1S 4QP
Valentino
IFC, 8 Shiji Dadao, Shop L1-27 + L2-27 (Lujiazui)
200120 Shanghai
Valentino
Shinsegae, 63 Sogong-ro, Second Floor (Jung-gu)
04530 Seoul
Valentino
135 Spring Street (Soho)
New York, NY 10012
Publishers Note
Just to be clear – superfuture® is a design blog and not a political commentator. No surprise there. The scope of our content has always been global and borderless, however that can often mean covering projects in countries where we will not agree with the politics or actions of those countries. In a world that’s as screwed up as ever right now, the focus of our support is to those designers, architects and other creatives who aim to make the world a more liveable one – as opposed to people that try their hardest to destroy it. So if a project hits our desk and we like it based on its design credentials, we may choose to publish regardless of its location or creators nationality. superfuture® has always been inclusive and hopes for all current wars, aggression, violence, hate and extremism to end.
