Valentino Fall ’25 Review: Alessandro Michele’s Restroom Fantasy

FOR HIS SECOND ready-to-wear collection since signing on as Valentino’s creative director 12 months ago, Alessandro Michele painted the town red. Part of it, at least: a large box set installed on the square in front of the Arab World Institute in Paris’ 5th arrondissement for the Valentino Fall ’25 runway.

Transformed for the afternoon into a giant restroom — dubbed by Michele ‘Le Méta Théâtre des Intimités’ — it was painted and tiled in red from floor to ceiling and its walls lined with toilet cubicles and wash basins, the tiered bleachers in the middle were covered in red felt and the entire room drenched in red light. Red might well be the trademark colour of Valentino, but this had more than a hint of a Twin Peaks vibe.

Into this “dystopian, disturbing, Lynchian space” (as per Michele in his show notes) entered the models, from — you guessed it — behind the toilet cubicle doors. Among them was Kai Schreiber, the 16 year-old daughter of Naomi Watts and Liev Schreiber, making her runway debut.

When they had done their tour of the runway the models often opened up the cubicle doors and disappeared backstage through them again. “We might as well understand that, in the end, also the deepest intimacy of all is a theatre, or rather a metatheatre in the theatre of existence: a backstage space-time that exhibits the features of a never-ending performance” Michele continued. “A mysterious and multifaceted representation in which we choose to address the fundamental question: who are we?”

We certainly know who Michele is by now — his signature maximalism and thrift shop penchant impossible to miss in Valentino’s collections as they were at Gucci’s. But he now has the archives of Valentino to mine, and it’s a distinctly more ladylike aesthetic. Prim suits with faux fur trims and cocktail dresses with micro pleated ruffles were reminiscent of ’80s glamour soaps Dynasty and Dallas. A plethora of other romantic dresses groaned with yet more ruffles — one a lite version of a fairytale ivory organza ballgown from Valentino’s recent Spring 2025 haute couture collection which had a massive crinoline skirt.

Lace — another Valentino signature — was omnipresent. There was a suite of high-necked lace bodysuits, one providing the opening statement of the show in fact, worn with the snap fastenings of its crotch dangling deliberately undone and teamed with tea-stained lace panties and a satin bralette. Tea-stained lace found its way into a number of other dresses, one particularly pretty gown boasting a mad mashup of colours and textures: a creased, pink silk skirt topped with a delicate lace fishtail train and a chartreuse bandeau bodice popped with crystal embellishments.

The models heads were invariably modestly covered, if not by a cagoule, then a wide lace head band. And Michele continued on with his cat gag, a graphic of a cat’s face finding its way into the embroidered bodice of a silvery sequinned column. Le Chat de la Maison — the super cute plastic minaudière from the Spring 2025 collection that’s made in the shape of a vintage cat toy — was carried by more than one celebrity attendee to the show.

Before the show, Jared Leto hammed it up in the celebrity arrivals area in front of the photographers, turning on one of the washbasin taps to see if it worked, then venturing inside one of the faux toilet cubicles, momentarily locking himself inside.

Backstage afterwards, he hugged Michele — who he calls his “brother from another mother” he told BAZAAR Australia. “My mind is a little blown” he continued. “I mean, the energy… I feel like dancing on the rooftop right now. It was really powerful, and you know, when people work this hard, it’s a beautiful thing to see it come together like that just did. They’re the nicest group of people in all of fashion and I’m just very happy for them”.