Valentina - Press Release

 

MAISON VALENTINO
THE CULTURE OF COUTURE


In downtown Rome near the Spanish Steps, Valentino’s historic
headquarters on Piazza Mignanelli are a genuine legend. Inside
and out, the 16th century residence, which has been the protagonist
of numerous photo shoots appearing in the world’s most famous
magazines, represents the passion and inspiration, results and
recognition of a fashion brand that is universally acclaimed and
loved. Inside Palazzo Mignanelli, the brand’s affinity with classic,
modern, and contemporary art and with grand Italian artisan
tradition magically came to life through the exquisite work of a
unique and brilliant group of pattern-makers, seamstresses,
and embroiderers. Under some of the oldest frescoed and
coffered wood ceilings in Rome, amidst the staircases, desks,
bookcases, rooms and workshops, the Valentino maison is a
fascinating combination of different eras and styles. Like fashion,
it is incessantly and relentlessly changing through an exciting
sequence of transformations, innovation, evolution, modifications,
and changes. It reveals Valentino’s devotion to uniqueness and
dedication to beauty that is expressed through an endless variety of
silhouettes, ideas, images, and projects. Its products were designed
for an ideal elegant woman inspired by her couture clothes and
lifestyle and by her desire to make a statement, stand out from the
crowd, and live life to the fullest.

THE CREATIVE DIRECTORS AND THEIR VISION

In sync with the times, restyled and updated, the Valentino woman
of Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pier Paolo Piccioli, the current Creative
Directors of the maison, is freer, more extreme and daring. She
wows the crowds with amazing combinations of chiffon and black
leather, cashmere and metal studs, herringbone wool and light
Chantilly lace. Evanescent and ethereal, but also magnetic and
mysterious, she is seductively ambiguous, unpredictable, and as
elusive as a mirage. An intense, ineludible icon that is simultaneously
equivocal and elegantly impalpable, she wears sleek outfits that
impeccably accentuate her figure and are shaped and embellished
by concealed structures, exclusive techniques, and exquisite trims.
Her couture dresses fit her contemporary personality like a glove.
Defining and emphasizing her distinction like a gentle, floating aura,
they transform her uniqueness into an ineffable, quintessential and
overwhelming sensorial experience.

INSPIRATION
ROME

Rome, the home of Valentino couture, remains its ideal stage
and source of inspiration. Its incomparable, aristocratic layers of
sublime artwork and architecture, memories and patina, emblems
and stylistic elements generate a sumptuous and unique texture of
different moods. It is a breathtaking spectacle of slender neoclassical
columns and exuberant baroque caprices, endless views and secret
glimpses, dazzling reflections and shadowy corners that symbolize
the magnetic and contradictory allure of Valentino’s perceptive and
unpredictable woman. She knows and appreciates couture that
redefines and updates fashion’s legendary looks, giving exclusive
materials and techniques contemporary appeal, carefully studying
precise silhouettes and volumes, creating pleated, folded or draped
constructions, and adding meticulous and elaborate intarsia and
cutouts, placed and all-over embellishments. This woman, imagined
by Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pier Paolo Piccioli, is on a constant quest
to find herself. Bewitching, mystifying, and utterly stunning, she also
knows how to stand out in a crowd and she skillfully transforms
and distances herself. She lets her imagination fly, interpreting
Valentino style in her very own personal way, wearing couture
masterpieces that, like Rome, are unique and timeless.

VALENTINA
THE MUSE

Synthesized in a refined bouquet of fragrances, the ingredients that
define the femininity and uniqueness of the Valentino woman have
inspired a new perfume called Valentina that was conceived as
couture style and a signature element of distinction that expresses a
feminine ideal. Valentina is beautiful, radiant with charms belonging
to a modern heiress. She is seductive, sophisticated , unconventional,
charismatic . She creates her own style. She sets home in a classical
Roman Palazzo but there is nothing she likes more than feeling
the heart beat of the vivid city of Rome. She is the only protagonist
of a hypnotic, bewitching story full of references and allusions to
legendary figures of Italian fashion and cinema. Valentina comes
to life in the advertising campaign for the perfume shot by David
Sims and the TV film directed by Johan Renck along the dark and
secret streets of a sumptuously deserted, nocturnal Rome.








HER PERFUME
CLASSIC YET MODERN

From this sensual, insolent beauty, this blatant femininity that
eludes conventions, two master perfumers, Olivier Cresp and
Alberto Morillas, created a fragrance as a tribute to today’s
Valentino woman. With attitude, sophistication and unexpected
characteristics, the bouquet of Valentina blends an irreverent Italian
floral oriental in which each facet reveals a paradox. Calabrian
bergamot is a hymn to exuberance and freshness, shaken up by
the insolence of white Alba truffles. In their trail, jasmine, Amalfi
orange blossom and tuberose celebrate radiant beauty, while being
offset by the rebellious delight of wild strawberries. Finally, the
nobility of cedar is seduced by the captivating sensuality of amber…
Valentina marks out a solar, unexpected trail, classic yet modern.







THE COUTURE BOTTLE

The intense notes of the perfume perfectly blend with the delicate
purity of the transparent crystal bottle. Slightly rounded yet sleek, it
wears three flowers, emblems of Valentino couture, in pale shades
of white, ivory, and nude : recurring colors featured in the most
recent collections that represent the brand’s taste for contrasts
and contradiction and its new direction. Skillfully blending and
contrasting naughtiness and innocence, restraint and audacity,
the sensual bottle is topped by a silver ring and a black pearl. And,
comes in a white box decorated with floral motifs in relief.