The luxury fashion house stages a men’s wear collection after three years of doing co-ed fashion shows.
Valentino has been staging co-ed fashion shows for the past three years, but will return to the Milan Men’s Fashion Week with a collection specifically for men’s wear. The said comeback will happen in June of this year.
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The show Valentino: The Narratives will be held on June 16 at 2 pm CET at the Università degli Studi di Milano Statale, and will also kick off the famous fashion week.
The brand’s return to Men’s Fashion Week pays homage to the very first Valentino Men’s Wear show. The founder of the eponymous fashion house, Valentino Garavani, presented his first men’s wear show in Milan in January 1985. So while Valentino’s women’s collections have always been showcased in Paris, the fashion house’s upcoming men’s wear show in Milan hearkens back to the early days of its history.
Focusing solely on a men’s wear show is also a result of the brand’s recent 10% sales increase. Valentino’s chief executive officer, Jacopo Venturini, acknowledges the revenue men’s wear brings in. According to WWD, 14% of the total Valentino sales comes from men’s wear.
As such, Venturini wants to focus on boosting the visibility of the brand’s men’s wear line. Hiring Suga of BTS as a brand ambassador was part of his effort to emphasize the significance of men’s wear in Valentino. Furthermore, Venturini sees “great opportunities” for Pierpaolo Piccioli’s creative direction in the men’s wear division—not even worrying about the possible loss of customers due to the more gender-fluid and androgynous designs of Piccioli.
Valentino: The Narratives will be streaming on the brand’s official website, Valentino.com, and other official social media accounts of the brand. The show also serves as an avenue for Piccioli to reach a younger audience and tap into a new generation of customers.
Banner photo via Instagram @maisonvalentino
