Dev Hynes and Alessandro Michele go way back. While we don’t have an exact start date to their fruitful creative partnership, we do know that Hynes began working with Michele during his tenure at Gucci, scoring a soundtrack for the label’s 2016 pre-fall collection video, directed by Gia Coppola.

From there, Hynes has attended 2019’s ‘Camp’ Met Gala wearing a flamboyant Gucci suit, performed with Harry Styles on stage at the Grammy’s in a custom velvet beret, and loyally followed Michele to Valentino, collaborating on a gray suit for this year’s ‘Black Dandy’ Met Gala. Now, Michele has tapped the British musician once again as one of the stars of his Valentino Cruise 2026 campaign.

Dropped on the label’s Instagram account, Hynes is joined by an all-star cast including actor Dakota Johnson, singer Tate McRae, American ballet dancer Devon Teuscher, 1970s socialite Marisa Berenson and German visual artist Ann Imhoff. Shot by London-based photographer Marili Andre, the campaign sees Hynes and co haunt various ornately-decorated hotel rooms looking forlorn and wistful.

“There is a moment, just before the night comes, when conscience prepares to surrender. The ‘Nocturne’ advertising campaign decides to inhabit that threshold,” said Michele of the campaign. “It happens in a hotel, liminal space par excellence, where intimacy and anonymity coexist and transience turns into a form of permanence. Each room is a fragment of universe, populated by singular existences. Lives barely touching one another, yet taking part in a shared ritual: the gesture of giving oneself over to sleep, of loosening the tensions of the day, of embracing the quiet hush as a temporary shelter from the world outside.”