The Valentino fashion house isn’t shy about releasing books that double as an entire exercise regiment. In their latest foray into a large-format coffee-table style tome, Assouline published a carefully curated selection of inspiration boards, ad campaigns, patterns and original photography.
Walking into the Valentino store on 5th Avenue on a chilly December evening, I saw Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pier Paolo Piccioli warmly smiling as they greeted their Valentino-loving guests. As Pier Paolo sketched away inside one of the books, I exchanged a smile with Maria across the room and picked up a book of my own. The sheer size of the work is overwhelming. The words introducing the creative power behind the duo resonate with the beauty of the clothing in the pictures, creating a symbol of how Valentino’s creative duo incorporated the tradition of the house with the spin of new ideas and elements.
[x_blockquote type=”left”]”To look at Rome today and look at Valentino is to look at both a woven tapestry of history and a slow accumulation of layers in which memories and inspiration are confronted by imagination and desires.”[/x_blockquote]As Maria and I spoke about the creativity behind my ever-changing hair colors, I couldn’t help thinking how perfect the duo is for the brand. There’s a down-to-earth approachability and realness in their conversations, and that grounded personality coupled with unbridled imagination translates exceptionally well to youth obsessed with finding morsels of authenticity in this world.
