Alessandro Michele dragged us to the club bathrooms at Valentino

Sunday afternoon in Paris and you could be forgiven for thinking you’d been turned around and transported into the bathrooms of some scuzzy little nightclub when walking into the Valentino showspace. Emerging out of a stall door into a massive room bathed in red light, the walls of the space were lined with more cubicles, as well as sinks and mirrors illuminated with harsh neon strips. “It’s like being in DC-10” said one editor, likening the set to the interior of the legendary Ibiza super club. 

Alessandro Michele’s infamously convoluted show notes explained that his AW25 outing at Valentino – his third IRL runway for the Italy-born, Paris-based house – was all about intimacy, and particularly the moments of intimacy that feel strange and unusual. With that in mind, what’s more unusual than the snatched moments of deep connection found with strangers in the stalls of nightclub toilets, most of whom you never see again when the Uber whisks you away from the afters at 8am?

Still as much of a Lana Del Rey fanboy as ever, Michele kicked off the show by blasting “Gods and Monsters” through the speakers, as the models’ ankles appeared under the doors of the stalls. One by one they emerged from behind them to take their lap of the catwalk, before disappearing back inside. As Lana’s track evolved into a thumping techno soundtrack that would put Berghain’s main room to shame, the designer once again got the strobe lights out, as the models stopped in front of the mirrors to muss up or smooth down their hair, straighten their clothes, and check their make-up wasn’t all over the place.

The clothes themselves were as eclectic as any given Michele offering, though this one felt more refined, and a little more restrained, actually. There were a swathe of all black looks, featuring little nipped corset jackets, which were matched with long, sweeping obsidian velvet skirts with trains – not necessarily the kind of thing you’d want dragging through the grimy club toilets IRL, but let’s give in to fantasy a little here, okay? There were ruffled column gowns – a Valentino signature – in gold and ivory – and a huge line-up of fuzzy faux fur coats, which have been a huge trend across the board this season, so expect to see them everywhere come autumn. 

It felt more subversive and a lot less romantic than his first ready-to-wear collection, with a hint of the sexiness we saw him put out with his AW19 Gucci show, and proved the notorious magpie maximalist can dial things down when he really wants to – and to seriously successful effect.

Scroll through the gallery above to see Valentino’s entire AW25 collection.