Valentino Has Chosen to Show in Milan Rather Than Paris This Season.
“The current situation has forced us to take an unusual decision,” says creative director Pierpaolo Piccioli.
Valentino might be an Italian brand, but for years it has shown at Paris Fashion Week. This season, in light of Covid-19, that’s changing: The brand will show its co-ed Spring 2021 collection at Milan Fashion Week on September 27.
In explaining the reasoning for the decision, the brand cited the “unprecedented times” brought about by the pandemic.
“In the current scenario, we need to make decisions in advance to protect our first resources, our people, and to allow our brand to remain relevant exploring alternative opportunities,” said Valentino CEO Jacopo Venturini in a release. “This is why we feel that it would be more ethical to produce the new show in Italy, in Milano.”
Venturini went on to note that this will allow Valentino to participate in a fashion system represented by both the Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana and the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode (Italy and France’s fashion governing bodies, respectively).
Though creative director Pierpaolo Picciolisaid that Paris “truly embodies Valentino DNA,” he also had positive things to say about staying in Italy this year.
“I feel energized when I can work on ideas and this is the time for ideas to spread and grow,” he said. “Milano is a new opportunity, a great project that I am developing with my teams with the aim of working around the idea of identity.”
Though both Piccioli and Venturini’s comments seem to point to the brand heading back to Paris as soon as it’s safe to do so, it’ll be interesting to see the outcomes of a slightly more localized fashion scene in Europe, even if it’s only for a season.
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