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After a series of co-ed shows, Valentino staged its first menswear show in three years on Friday in the opulent courtyard of Università degli studi di Milano. TikTok famous singer D4vd performed and actors Jacob Elordi and Yang Yang were in attendance, alongside scores of the university’s students, creating buzz around the brand’s renewed focus on menswear. As the market opportunity grows, buyers say it’s a “perfectly timed” shift.
The 56-look collection — which blended tailoring with softer silhouettes (think long coats teamed with shorts, or shirting with flowers instead of ties) — was inspired by Hanya Yanagihara’s bestselling novel A Little Life, which follows the intertwining lives of four men and how their relationships change over time. Quotes from the book were emblazoned across leather briefcases, jeans and coats. The invite was a special co-branded hardback edition of the book.
“We have been talking a lot about masculinity, gender. It’s too easy sometimes to fix people into boxes,” says Valentino creative director Pierpaolo Piccioli in an exclusive interview with Vogue Business post-show. “The real power today is freedom; to be yourself exactly as you are. A new sort of gentleness or kindness or evenness can be your strength. A Little Life talks about men in an intimate way, about emotion and the delicateness of men, rather than just power.”
While some designers see traditionally feminine silhouettes as the way to redefine masculinity, Piccioli feels it’s possible to do it in other ways. “You don’t have to wear a dress to show your sensitivity. Of course, you can. But I think you can also wear a jacket and show vulnerability and sensitivity, too.” He adds that, for younger consumers, “it’s the tailoring of their grandfathers but with a new gentleness”. The moodboard for the collection included the A Little Life quote: “We are so old we have become young again.”
Previously the luxury menswear aesthetic tended to be either streetwear or very sharp tailoring. Piccioli’s Valentino falls into neither category, which is an advantage as customers seek more modern elegant dressing, says Simon Longland, buying director of fashion at Valentino stockist Harrods.
The global menswear market is expected to be worth $462 billion in 2023, and to grow 5 per cent by 2024, according to Euromonitor. In luxury, menswear is expected to grow faster than womenswear over the next year. However, menswear is also becoming increasingly saturated. Alongside the top end luxury menswear players, contemporary brands including Ami Paris, Casablanca and Our Legacy are winning market share. Successful womenswear brands such as Jacquemus and Marine Serre have launched menswear in recent years. As it evolves beyond the binary of streetwear vs tailoring, brands like Valentino could be well placed to thrive.
Valentino menswear currently represents 20 per cent of the business. Greater China, home of ambassador Yang Yang, is the best performing market, but there was growth across all regions in 2022, according to the company. It expects menswear revenues to reach 25-30 per cent of the total by 2026 or 2027. The Milan show is a key part of this, with the aim of presenting more men’s looks and drumming up more attention from current or potential menswear clients.
Valentino has already invested heavily in menswear in 2023. In January, the brand launched Maison Valentino Essentials, a collection of menswear basics conceived in collaboration with GQ international and LA store Maxfield. The campaign featured Suga, You star Penn Badgley and musician Don Toliver. Pieces were created based on runway looks, but simplified to create the bases of a capsule wardrobe: a jacket, a shirt with a collar that becomes a tie, the “sartorial” coat, all with the maison’s “V” monogram. Friday’s SS24 show was designed to build on this collection.
Previously, the menswear reflected the womenswear vision in co-ed shows. “A dedicated focus on menswear is smart as Piccioli’s more understated menswear can often get lost among the literal volume and energetic colorplay that [he] applies to womenswear,” says Luke Raymond, senior menswear editor at Farfetch. “In this sense, it’s definitely great to shine a light on menswear in isolation.”
“It’s exciting to see Valentino men’s back on the schedule and in my opinion the timing is perfect,” says Longland of Harrods. “We’ve seen a change in what our customer is buying in the last 12 months, with a noticeable shift to more elegant and clean dressing. Valentino menswear is intrinsically aligned to this.”
In May, The Last of Us star Pedro Pascal’s red Valentino look at the 2023 Met Gala went viral. With long shorts, layers of crimson tailoring and a black tie, it was a bold signal of Piccioli’s vision, as he builds out his community of like-minded brand advocates that share a gentleness in their masculinity.
“The reaction we had to Pedro on the red carpet! And he was wearing a pair of shorts. It wasn’t super disruptive, just a suit with some centimetres less than usual, but it was so disruptive because he’s a man aware of his masculinity,” says Piccioli. “We talk about changing masculinity a lot. We need to keep working on evolving the wardrobe.”
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