Take the Spanish Steps on a summer night, combine it with a fashion show by an iconic haute couture Italian brand, and you have an event that promises to be memorable.
On July 8 in Rome, luxury fashion house Valentino will showcase its autumn-winter 2022-23 collection across a few streets in an area running from the terrace of Trinità dei Monti, down the Spanish Steps, around the fountain of the Barcaccia to Piazza Mignanelli, where the company’s headquarters are located.
The fashion show will be topped with a gala dinner party at the Baths of Caracalla, which will be attended by Italian and international celebrities alike.
The show will be a way “to give back” to the city of Rome, said Valentino’s CEO Jacopo Venturini during a press conference to present the event.
Venturini also revealed that Valentino will be funding the restoration of the mosaics of the Baths of Caracalla, the city’s ancient and second-largest public baths.
Valentino will also finance the replacement of two ailing palm trees by the Spanish Steps — symbols of the area — compromised by the attacks of a parasite.
The fashion show is called “The Beginning,” a tribute to the roots of the fashion house, which was founded in Rome in 1959. The haute couture collections are normally presented in Paris, but this year Valentino has chosen to celebrate its collection in Italy.
“I love Rome. It's the only city where I truly feel at home. My headquarters have always been here, this is where I began in the '60s, those extraordinary years of the dolce vita,” Valentino once said.
“Rome is the place where everything starts, the life, the people, our stories and identities are here. We belong to this place as much as this place belongs to the world and to Valentino,” said creative director Pierpaolo Piccioli.
Students from a number of fashion and design schools will be admitted to the couture show and Valentino will also open its archives to visitors July 10-12. A selection of dresses from 1950-1973 will be on display. Spots are limited; visits can be booked at Valentino.com.
The Valentino fashion show will be streamed on July 8 starting at 8pm on valentino.com.
