Valentino’s riposte to economic woes: Maximalism

The steeper the downturn, the more one should dress with intention — just as eating and sleeping well remain vital during life’s low points. Only when one tends to the finer details of living does luck have a reason to show up. Alessandro Michele seems to understand the logic of emotional economics. While many brands respond to financial strain by cutting costs and reining in creativity, Valentino’s creative director is charting a different course: expressing beauty through complexity, not restraint. Even off the runway, this kind of beauty draws attention. Recently, Michele unveiled a carefully orchestrated campaign titled Dreamers in Bed, presenting his 2026 resort collection. Across 132 ornate looks, he constructed a theatrical dreamscape where models lie on beds — lost in thought, locked in gaze, or curled up in sleep. Even in stillness, they dress as if beauty itself were an act of quiet defiance against the dullness of everyday life. Maximalism finds its moment in the nostalgia economy Since taking the helm as Valentino’s creative director in April 2024, Michele has delivered three pivotal collections. Initially, many expected him to pivot toward a more “market-friendly” minimalism — an easily monetized formula. Instead, he surprised audiences by doubling down on his maximalist instincts. Notably, after appointing Michele as creative director, Valentino chairman Rachid Mohamed Rachid stated that the era of quiet luxury is fading, making way for bolder, more expressive design — one he believes will resonate again with affluent consumers. This clear endorsement of opulence at the leadership level offers Michele both validation and strategic backing for his maximalist path. Merging retro-inflected maximalism with the brand’s deep-rooted romanticism, Michele is crafting a distinct visual language. At a time when consumers are increasingly cautious, his creative conviction is both radical and effective, quickly earning positive market response. On June 27, when actress Yang Zi (杨紫) became the first Chinese celebrity to wear Michele’s haute couture for Valentino — appearing on the Magnolia Awards red carpet in a look from the Spring/Summer 2025 collection — the reaction was immediate. Her ornate ensemble sparked widespread discussion on social media, with the hashtag “Yang Zi Haute Couture Debut（#杨紫顶级高定内娱首秀#)” reaching 68.3 million views on Weibo, speaking to the resonance and commercial potential of Michele’s maximalist vision in the Asian market. What seemed like a simple red-carpet spectacle revealed something deeper: a collective nostalgia for the aesthetics of economic optimism. On Xiaohongshu, related topics have garnered over 30 million views and nearly 120,000 comments, underscoring the resonance of prosperity-era style in today’s climate. After a prolonged era of minimalism, the public is once again looking to the early 2000s for style inspiration — when Y2K aesthetics swept the streets. Bold colors, shiny textures, and complex cuts and layers defined a visual language that conveyed a powerful message: hope for a brighter future. Michele’s brand of maximalism comes precisely when the world is looking for emotional release and radical self-expression. It’s not mere visual excess; it’s a reassertion of identity, cultural memory, and the right to imagine. This unapologetic vision has given Valentino a clear advantage in the current aesthetic shift. Designing fashion symbols with emotional tension Michele’s aesthetic strategy extends far beyond design. What he has built is a comprehensive methodology — one that spans visual storytelling and brand architecture. This kind of emotionally anchored brand construction has become a strategic asset for luxury houses seeking long-term value in a market saturated with content and sameness. Michele also has a particular fluency in creating fashion symbols that generate cultural traction. In the Spring/Summer 2025 collection, he introduced Le Chat, a muse-like feline figure that quickly became a breakout visual asset. With its mix of elegance and endearing awkwardness, the cat became something of a new mascot for Valentino — light, soothing, unbothered — tapping directly into a craving for solace amid daily pressure. At the same time, Le Chat has been widely applied across product prints, from handbags to apparel and footwear. It has even appeared in oversized plush form at physical stores, quickly evolving into a socially shareable “check-in” symbol. More recently, the brand released a series of digital cat animations projected onto its Madison Avenue and Rome boutiques, cementing Le Chat as a Valentino symbol. A long-time icon of comfort and humor in internet culture, the cat has become one of Valentino’s most potent emotional assets in today’s era of mood-driven marketing. In terms of brand heritage, Michele has reinterpreted Valentino’s iconic stud detailing through his own lens. Take the Nellcôte bag, introduced in the Spring/Summer 2025 collection — a brown suede fringe bag fused with metal studs, embodying Michele’s signature “boho-bourgeois” aesthetic. With its vintage looseness and nomadic undertones, the piece demonstrates a deliberate reworking of Valentino’s design language within Michele’s broader visual system. New house, new codes It’s worth noting that Michele’s first collection for the house did not hit stores until the fourth quarter of 2024. Whether he can deliver a commercial inflection point remains to be seen. For a brand emerging from a period of leadership transition and strategic recalibration, this is not only an aesthetic reset but a long game tied to confidence, clarity, and sustained growth. From a brand strategy standpoint, Valentino’s appointment of Michele reads as a forward-looking move. In an industry where creativity is increasingly homogenized, designers capable of creating both a distinct aesthetic and coherent symbolic language are becoming increasingly rare. Michele, crucially, is one of them. Earlier this month, Michele shared on the cultural fashion podcast Fashion Neurosis that his parents had once told him, “You must be who you are.” That imperative has served as a throughline in his career, shaping both his aesthetic convictions and creative decisions with uncommon clarity. During his seven-year tenure at Gucci, the brand’s annual revenue climbed from €3.9 billion in 2015 to well over €10 billion — a remarkable trajectory. Now, many expect him to replicate that success at Valentino. But in truth, repetition isn’t the point. Every brand has its own cultural terrain and growth arc. Even within the same maximalist framework, the questions, context, and ambitions at Valentino are entirely different. Michele’s task has never been to re-create past glory but rather conjure something new, within a different system.

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Valentino’s riposte to economic woes: Maximalism