By
AFP
Published
March 13, 2026
Two months after the death of its founder, Valentino returned to its roots by presenting its new autumn/winter collection, inspired in particular by the 1980s, in the heart of Rome, in the majestic setting of the Palazzo Barberini.
More than 700 people, including Hollywood stars Gwyneth Paltrowattended the show on Thursday evening in the reception rooms of the Baroque palace, home to the collections of the National Gallery of Ancient Art, which include works by Caravaggio and Raphael.
Valentino, renowned for dressing some of the world’s most glamorous women, usually unveils its collections in Paris, although the brand was founded in the Eternal City in 1960.
But creative director Alessandro Michele chose to return to Rome for the autumn/winter 2026–2027 collection, the first ready-to-wear show since Valentino Garavani died at the age of 93 on January 19.
Having ascended Francesco Borromini’s spiral staircase, women’s and men’s silhouettes in looks strongly inspired by the 1980s emerged across a floor of artificial turf amid Old Master paintings.
Titled “Interferenze” (“interference” or “disruption”), the show took place in part beneath Pietro da Cortona’s immense 17th-century fresco, “The Triumph of Divine Providence”, which adorns the ceiling of the grand salon of the Palazzo Barberini.
Structured shoulders, waists cinched with tuxedo belts, and miniskirts set the tone, all accessorised with bold, glittering jewellery, including oversized pearls and hefty pendants.
Frictions
Michele, who joined the house in 2024, recalled that in the late 1980s and the 1990s, Valentino Garavani was still “working hard and creating beauty with his hands”.
It was a time of “positivity” and “emancipation”, when women in particular were regaining control of their bodies, he told reporters backstage.
Playing with pleats and draping, Michele revisited Valentino’s codes, noting how Valentino Garavani “constructed the image of a goddess… placing woman at the center of the world”, he explained.
The show closed with a long gown, its plunging back and sweeping train causing a sensation in Valentino’s iconic red. “Red is very difficult to work with,” admitted Alessandro Michele, while stressing that it is essential to the brand’s identity.
The show was streamed live on Valentino’s social media, as well as on several giant screens set up in public spaces in Rome, Milan and Naples.
As a preview, Valentino published a video on its website featuring emblematic images of the Roman palace, from Antonio Corradini’s marble sculpture “La Velata” to Pietro da Cortona’s spectacular ceiling fresco.
“Palazzo Barberini presents itself as the ideal setting for a fashion show, because it makes visible the fundamental friction between rigor and excess that runs through architecture as well as clothing,” Michele wrote in the show notes.
“In this tension that runs through stone as much as fabric, the +Interferenze+ show makes visible the friction between codes and the deviation from them, between lightness and gravity, rule and excess, transparency and opacity, conformity and transgression,” he added.
Michele is the house’s fourth creative director since Valentino Garavani, who trained and worked in Paris before opening his own couture house in Rome, retired in 2008. He had previously spent seven years at guccia house he helped to transform.
Like the entire luxury sector, the Valentino group has faced a number of challenges in recent years, including slowing demand, the effects of inflation and geopolitical uncertainties.
The brand is now majority-owned by the Qatari investment fund Mayhoola, with the luxury group Kering also owning 30%.
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