Valentino SS27: The Intellectual Belongs to the Night

Alessandro Michele brings literature, desire and excess together, imagining a Valentino woman who refuses to belong to just one world.

For Spring/Summer 2027, Alessandro Michele turns Valentino into a place where intellect and desire can exist without contradiction. Presented inside Paris’s Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève, the collection unfolded under the idea of an “Antibiblioteca” — a celebration of books left unread, possibilities left unexplored, and identities that refuse to fit neatly into a single category. Guests were even invited to bring a book of their choice, transforming the front row into part of the collection’s wider conversation.

Valentino/editorial reproduction 

There is something particularly Michele about placing such an intellectual setting against clothes that are unapologetically sensual. Corseted silhouettes, bare shoulders, sheer skirts, lace, feathers and flashes of skin bring an almost nocturnal energy to the historic library. The contrast is not accidental. Valentino SS27 imagines a woman who can move effortlessly between worlds — from the library to the dance floor, from literature to glamour, from restraint to excess.

The clothes are deliberately abundant. Bright silk corsets appear alongside contrasting skirts; dresses become increasingly theatrical through bows, feathers and sculptural volume; oversized pearls and baroque gold jewellery frame the body with an almost decadent insistence. Even the accessories refuse to behave quietly, while playful elements such as the “Villain Teen” baseball caps introduce a deliberately irreverent note into the grandeur.

Yet beneath the maximalism, there is a surprisingly clear idea. Michele is interested in fashion as a form of self-authorship. The woman at the centre of this collection does not dress according to one fixed identity. She can be romantic, provocative, intellectual, excessive, elegant and slightly rebellious — sometimes within the same look. That multiplicity feels essential to Valentino under Michele, whose work continues to challenge the idea that a historic house must be preserved through repetition rather than reinvented through contradiction.

The library therefore becomes more than a setting. It becomes a metaphor for the wardrobe itself: a collection of references, memories, fantasies and possibilities waiting to be discovered. Some are familiar, others deliberately obscure. Some belong to the past, while others feel entirely imagined.

Valentino SS27 ultimately celebrates the pleasure of not having to choose. You can read all afternoon and disappear into the night. You can be refined and excessive, romantic and provocative. In Michele’s world, fashion is not about resolving these contradictions — it is about wearing them proudly.