Alessandro Michele appointed Creative Director of Maison Valentino

Maison Valentino is honored to announce today the appointment of Alessandro Michele as Creative Director, effective April 2nd, 2024. In his new role, Alessandro Michele will be based in Rome, the creative heart of our Company and the city where it was founded in 1960. This appointment marks the beginning of a new creative journey to continue shining unique values of the brand, its heritage and couture codes in the world through Alessandro Michele’s unique perspective and wealth of experience.

“For the last twelve years, as a team, we dedicated our time and resources to develop the Maison Valentino brand and business to become a world class couture house built on the unique heritage and creativity of Mr. Valentino Garavani, representing the best world of elegance and beauty. We have been able to grow it in reputation and size over five folds, while gaining the loyalty and appreciation of our clients. The appointment of Alessandro Michele marks another pivotal moment for Maison Valentino. Michele is an exceptional talent and his appointment underlines our great ambitions for Maison Valentino. I strongly believe that with his unique creativity and sensibility, he will continue the elevation of the brand’s everlasting heritage and unique Italian Maison de Couture identity. With Alessandro Michele a new page of excellence and endless beauty is ready to be written in the history of Valentino.” Rachid Mohamed Rachid, Chairman Valentino

“I am very happy and excited to return to work with Alessandro Michele after years of working together. His talent, creativity, and profound intelligence, always linked to a wonderful lightness, will write another chapter of Maison Valentino. I am certain that the reinterpretation of Maison's couture codes and the heritage create by Mr. Valentino Garavani, combined with Alessandro’s extraordinary vision, will bring us moments of great emotion and will translate into irresistibly desirable objects.” Jacopo Venturini, CEO Valentino

“It’s an incredible honour for me to be welcomed at Maison Valentino. I feel the immense joy and the huge responsibility to join a Maison de Couture that has the word ‘beauty’ carved on a collective story, made of distinctive elegance, refinement and extreme grace.

My first thought goes to this story: to the richness of its cultural and symbolic heritage, to the sense of wonder it constantly generates, to the very precious identity given with their wildest love by founding fathers, Valentino Garavani and Giancarlo Giammetti. These references always represented an essential source of inspiration for me, and I’m going to praise such influence through my own interpretation and creative vision.

My heartfelt gratitude, of course, goes to Rachid Mohamed Rachid who gave me this unique and irreplicable occasion. His trust is a gift of the soul that I will try to cherish with my work and total devotion.

My thankfulness to Jacopo Venturini is boundless, limitless. Getting back to work with him is a marvelous dream come true. Jacopo is not only an extraordinary professional, able to combine pragmatism and strategic vision, competence and sensibility. He’s most of all a man who is able to celebrate falling in love with life every day, through his passions and his care.

Today, I search for words to nominate the joy, to regard it, to really convey what I feel: the smiles that kick from the chest, the bliss of gratitude that lights up the eyes, that precious moment when necessity and beauty reach out and meet. Joy, though, is such a living thing that I’m afraid to hurt it if I dare to speak its name.

May my bow, wide open arms, speak for itself and salute in this early spring the regeneration of life and the promise of new blooming.” Alessandro Michele, Creative Director Valentino

The first collection of Alessandro Michele will be presented during Paris Fashion Week – S/S 2025