S1 Special Edition

A NEWSLETTER FROM ANDREA BATILLA

VALENTINO HAUTE-COUTURE JANUARY 2025

To construct the sacredness of a ritual, two seemingly contradictory elements are required. The first is an engaging performance that leads to a climactic finale, something understandable that ignites the eyes and spirits of those who participate. Catholicism is full of this: masses, funerals and saint festivals with their colorful and thunderous processions.

The second element is mystery. There must be something hidden, unknowable, barely whispered. The blood of San Gennaro, the relics of Padre Pio, the apparitions of Lourdes.

These two opposing forces, the clarity of reason and the depth of instinct, lead the observer to lose their sense of individuality and reach a state of communion with others and the divine, a state that is not naturally inherent to human beings. The stronger these two forces are, the more intense the sense of devotion becomes, drawing people into worship around the chosen one, the saint. Or the devil, in the case of satanic rituals.

The priests, the ministers of worship, direct the ceremonies like an orchestra, making them convincing, filling them with symbolism, familiar practices, and both intelligible and unintelligible signs. In its etymological sense, a priest is someone who offers the gift of the sacred to God or the gods.

Alessandro Michele is a shaman, a druid, an officiant of a collective ritual that is impossible to resist because what we desire most in this moment of sterile meaninglessness is to believe in something and to do it together.

In his first haute couture collection for Valentino, Alessandro first showcased the obvious, the evident. The brand’s archive was opened and displayed, like a relic carried in procession. The exaggerated maximalism of Valentino Garavani found a concrete but respectful form, a reinterpretation that did not detract from the original but redirected it into the contemporary, making it accessible again.

It is an aesthetic that is challenging because of its dated nature, yet simultaneously composed of deeply iconic moments, like the famous first harlequin-check gown. Under Michele’s wise hands, the maison’s heritage became meaningful again, whereas until recently it was a forgotten collection of scattered images locked away in an archive.

But Michele also introduced elements that are difficult to understand, mysterious, even. The first is seen in the casting and the shapes of the long evening skirts, a reference to the aesthetic of Demna, his dark alter ego, who was also dethroned but remains an apostle of the contemporary, in its most complex sense. This seemingly artificial addition carries, for the initiated, a deeper message of solidarity, resilience, and resistance.

There are also cryptic references to the 18th century, the 16th century and even the Middle Ages, which appear as mere displays of technical skill but are actually meant to disorient, to detach us from reality and the comfort of the familiar.

Finally, there is a theatrical mise-en-scène that McQueen would have loved, framed within a cold, emotionless setting, like the long list of words projected behind the models. This approach amplifies the drama of the message by stripping the garments of their romanticism and suffocating their optimistic meaning.

The ultimate goal of any collective ritual is something called catharsis, a form of purification.

The real question, since the ritual was undeniably successful, is what exactly people feel the need to purify themselves from. Why do they seek unifying, liberating and immersive experiences?

Someone once said that fashion today is made up of anonymous, oversized clothes. While this statement is a generalization, it is not far from the truth. In this historical moment, the quality of the content is less important than the ability of the narrative to surprise, provoke and elicit instinctive reactions. When these reactions are collective and transcend individuality, the content is considered effective.

This implies two things. First, that the form of the content is currently more important than the content itself. Second, much like the mystery cults of the Hellenistic period or the spiritual séances of the Victorian era, we are living in a time of decadence where people seek collective forms of comfort because, on their own, they lack the tools to comprehend reality, to survive.

Fun fact: Demna was sitting front row. With a plastic grocery bag.