Alessandro Michele really likes Troye Sivan ’s new song “Party”. The track, which came out two weeks ago and samples Madonna ’s “Music”, played on loop at this afternoon’s Valentino SS27 show.
If you haven’t heard it yet, the song features Sivan rattling off a list of the best places to go raving, from parks and bushes to clubs and restaurants. For Valentino this season, that list would be topped by the unlikely venue of Paris’ Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève (the library emptied and decked-out with strobe lights, of course).
Titled Antibiblioteca (or anti-library), the show set out to explore the endless possibilities within books left unread. “Even the garments that we will never wear, no differently than those books sitting unopened on our shelves, still speak to us of the lives we could have lived,” Michele explained in the show notes.
“Because their sheer presence as a possibility makes the world wider, richer, more livable.” Staying on theme, the creative director invited celebrities to drop off their favourite books as a donation for local libraries when they entered the show space.
Giving us a taste of her own bookshelf, Clairo , dressed in a red, pleated skirt set, dropped off Covert Joy by Clarice Lispector. Colman Domingo , wearing a tweed suit jacket and tie, brought Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child.
Meanwhile, Zoey Deutch handed over The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert, Thai musician Jeff Satur brought Manifest In Action by Roxie Nafousi, Cynthia Erivo gifted James Baldwin’s Giovanni’s Room and Alexander Skarsgård dropped off a Swedish edition of Icelandic tales.
On the runway, Michele imagined different personalities within these unopened titles, with many appearing party-ready. The show opened with an evening wear essential: a sleek, black strapless dress with a frilled hemline, and accessorised only with strappy sandals and a red lip. Elsewhere, pencil skirts came in washed-out leopard prints, sequined blazers were paired with “villain teen” baseball caps, and romantic red dresses were cut in plunging sweetheart necklines.
Later in the offering, the looks grew more dramatic and glamorous. Shiny emerald suiting was puffed-up with Claude Montana-style shoulders, dresses came with mesh over the nipples to reveal the full chest, and a pink evening gown dragged with a pleated, bow-covered train that recalled Marilyn Monroe’s famous “Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend” outfit. More than just characters you’d want to read about, these were people you’d want to party with.
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