VALENTINO - Cruise 2027 Feels Like a Private Archive

WHY VALENTINO CRUISE 2027 FEELS LIKE A PRIVATE ARCHIVE

written SARAH ARENDTS

Valentino Cruise 2027 treats clothes as evidence of private life. In Liv Liberg’s campaign at Villa Gaia Gandini in Milan, Alessandro Michele’s collection sits among rooms that already feel occupied by memory, with coats, prints, shoes and bags carrying the pressure of people who have dressed for themselves before anyone looked.

VALENTINO / Cruise 2027 Collection

VALENTINO / Cruise 2027 Collection

The collection places women’s and men’s wardrobes inside the same emotional register. A floral print has the confidence of something found in a family photograph. A coat sits on the body with deliberate weight. Tailoring softens around the figure, while decorative surfaces give each look a sense of attachment. Michele is interested in the way garments become personal before they become public, the way a sleeve, a collar or a pair of shoes can suggest a life already in motion.

Cruise often belongs to travel, yet here the idea of movement feels closer to interior life. The collection creates characters through clothing that seems chosen with private logic. There is elegance, but it comes through possession rather than polish. A bag is held like something needed, shoes alter posture, prints bring memory into the image, and ornament becomes part of behaviour.

VALENTINO / Cruise 2027 Collection

VALENTINO / Cruise 2027 Collection

Liv Liberg’s photographs sharpen that reading: shot at Villa Gaia Gandini in Milan, the campaign places George Anderson, Valery Sergeva, Yar Aguer, Gaetan Bianchi, Dario Tonin and Khadim Diouff inside a setting filled with domestic gravity. The villa gives the collection a lived frame. Walls, mirrors and furniture hold their own presence, making the clothes feel observed by the rooms as much as by the camera. Liberg’s images carry a controlled intimacy and the models appear caught during a pause, close to speech or just after it. Their gestures keep the campaign away from pure display. A hand rests near a bag and a body turns slightly into the room.

This is where Michele’s Valentino feels most precise, because his work for the Maison has often dealt with memory, excess and character, but Cruise 2027 gives those ideas a more domestic pressure. The clothes do not ask to be decoded as symbols. They work through wear, through mood, through the friction between private taste and public image.

VALENTINO / Cruise 2027 Collection

VALENTINO / Cruise 2027 Collection

VALENTINO / Cruise 2027 Collection

VALENTINO / Cruise 2027 Collection

The campaign uses Milan as a house, a stage of possession, a place where fashion enters rooms already charged with time. Valentino Cruise 2027 gains its force from that tension: clothes carrying the trace of someone’s life, photographed in a space that seems to remember its own.

VALENTINO / Cruise 2027 Collection

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all images Courtesy of Valentino

creative director ALESSANDRO MICHELE
photographer LIV LIBERG
hair stylist PAOLO SOFFIATTI
make-up artist JOEL BABICCI
manicurist ROBERTA RODI
models GEORGE ANDERSON, VALERY SERGEVA, YAR AGUER, GAETAN BIANCHI, DARIO TONIN, KHADIM DIOUFF
location VILLA GAIA GANDINI, ROBECCO SUL NAVIGLIO, MILAN, ITALY

Christian Louboutin - Jaden Smith Fronts Fall 2026 Menswear Campaign

Jaden Smith Debuts Fall 2026 Christian Louboutin Menswear Campaign

written MALCOLM THOMAS

Set in a 17th-century chateau in the French countryside, Jaden Smith’s vision for his inaugural Christian Louboutin menswear collection is complete in all its rebellious grandeur. Debuting in January, during Paris Fashion Week Men’s, the Avant-Première collection marked a bold new chapter for the brand.

Christian Louboutin
Fall 2026 Men Ad Campaign

Somewhere between cinema and mythology, shoes were merchandised on antiquity-inspired columns in an elaborate exhibition. Iconographic short films were projected on walls and vintage TV monitors, including one film of Smith’s bare-chested body painted in red, representing the creative director’s full immersion into the role.

Christian Louboutin
Fall 2026 Men Ad Campaign

Christian Louboutin
Fall 2026 Men Ad Campaign

An exploration of performance-driven textures and expressive ideas and styles, such as The Molten Trapman, a rubber-soled boot available in glossy red and white molten paint, was introduced. Other new ideas included Tactical and Multi-Pocket tote bags with titled pockets and compartments, inspired by stone masons and scribes. Re-imagined pieces include Smith’s fresh take on the classic style of the Penny Loafer in addition to the Asclepius Sling and Plato and Moustachou Derby Dots dress shoes. Additional highlights included the Ennio, a cowboy boot with tubular overlay, the Chelsea Gorp, as well as skate shoes available in a myriad of colourways in low and mid-top styles. Accessories include baseball caps, belts, lighter keyrings, and can openers.

Each piece represents a character in a cinematic story. A symbiosis of heritage and individuality, whether perusing classic literature, admiring family portraits or luxuriating on the lawn, Smith’s interpretation of the house of Christian Louboutin spans generations.

Christian Louboutin
Fall 2026 Men Ad Campaign

Christian Louboutin
Fall 2026 Men Ad Campaign

Christian Louboutin
Fall 2026 Men Ad Campaign

Christian Louboutin
Fall 2026 Men Ad Campaign

The Fall 2026 menswear collection is now available in Christian Louboutin stores worldwide, with Jaden Smith making appearances in New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Paris and London.

Christian Louboutin
Fall 2026 Men Ad Campaign

all images (c) Christian Louboutin Press

Christian Louboutin - Colorful Summer 2026 Collection

Christian Louboutin Unveils Colorful Summer 2026 Collection

A review of the Christian Louboutin Summer 2026 womenswear collection

written MALCOLM THOMAS

On Tuesday, Christian Louboutin unveiled its sunny summer 2026 collection. Inspired by Louboutin’s lifelong admiration for the stage—the set reminiscent of the interior of a René Magritte, supported models propped in playful poses in the candy-colored collection. 

CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN
Summer 2026 Collection

CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN
Summer 2026 Collection

Debuting a new line of bags, dubbed the Venus after the Greek goddess of love, a range of styles from tote to mini-crossbody, with a focus on timeless luxury and pragmatic functionality, are sure to add a bit of excitement to the everyday.

Just in time for high summer, Christian Louboutin’s new footwear offerings are abundant. Meet Mulazee, a taffeta kitten-heel mule featuring a delicate ton-sur-ton bow that highlights the feminine décolleté. It’s high-heeled cousin Cassia, and its ankle-boot counterpart Pavolva will also be making their debuts in leather and crepe satin, both complementary additions to smart eveningwear. 

CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN
Summer 2026 Collection

CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN
Summer 2026 Collection

CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN
Summer 2026 Collection

CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN
Summer 2026 Collection

Finally, the classic Chambelimoc and Chambelimonk silhouettes return in embossed crocodile-style burgundy calf patina leather, rounding out a collection that promises bright days (and fun nights) ahead.  

all visuals
CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN SS26

Prada Spring Summer 2026 campaign - Anne Collier

PRADA frames Fashion Advertising as an Object through Anne Collier’s Spring Summer 2026 Campaign

written LE MILE

The Spring Summer 2026 Prada campaign marks a new collaboration between Prada, its creative directors Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons, and the American artist Anne Collier. Released for the Spring Summer 2026 season, the campaign examines the form and function of fashion advertising at a time when images circulate primarily through digital systems.

Collier’s work since the early 2000s has focused on re-photographed and appropriated imagery from magazines, record sleeves, and advertising, consistently questioning how images are handled, consumed, and recontextualised. Her work has been shown at institutions including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Tate Modern in London, and LACMA. Prada’s commission places this practice directly inside a global fashion campaign, extending Collier’s long-standing inquiry into a commercial context without shifting its focus.

The campaign consists of still-life images in which physical photographs of the Prada collection are held by visible hands. These inner photographs, shot by Oliver Hadlee Pearch, depict Prada looks worn by a cast that includes Levon Hawke, Nicholas Hoult, Damson Idris, Carey Mulligan, Hunter Schafer, John Glacier, and Liu Wen. Collier’s outer image reframes these photographs as objects, introducing a second level of observation that foregrounds the act of looking itself.

This structure shifts attention away from immediacy and consumption toward materiality. The photograph appears as something held, examined, and mediated by another presence. The hands function as a proxy for the viewer, situating the audience alongside the image, so advertising becomes visible as a mechanism.
Within Prada’s wider cultural programme, the campaign aligns with the brand’s sustained engagement with contemporary art through exhibitions, commissions, and long-term collaborations. It also enters a broader industry moment shaped by image saturation, renewed interest in print, and questions around authorship and attention. By insisting on the photograph as a physical object, the campaign introduces friction into a system built on speed and circulation.

The Prada Spring Summer 2026 campaign is released globally across Prada’s platforms. Credits list creative direction by Ferdinando Verderi, photography by Anne Collier with images by Oliver Hadlee Pearch, and the named cast. The project positions advertising as a site of reflection, placing visual authorship and material presence at the centre of Prada’s seasonal communication.

PRADA SPRING SUMMER 2026 Campaign

campaign conceived by MIUCCIA PRADA and RAF SIMONS / photography ANNE COLLIER with images by OLIVER HADLEE PEARCH / campaign creative direction FERDINANDO VERDERI / talents JOHN GLACIER, LEVON HAWKE, NICHOLAS HOULT, DAMSON IDRIS, CAREY MULLIGAN, HUNTER SCHAFER, LIU WEN

(c) all images PRADA Press

Bottega Veneta - A Desert Dreamscape

.new campaign
Bottega Veneta Winter 24
*Alec Soth Shoots Ad Campaign in the Desert Wilds

written Monica de Luna

Bottega Veneta’s Winter 2024 campaign lands in the American West with an impact that feels strange and inevitable. Creative Director Matthieu Blazy teams up with photographer Alec Soth to create a visual dialogue between the desert’s stark beauty and the brand’s vision of luxury.

Captured in Nevada and Utah, locations notorious for UFO sightings, the campaign blends the eerie with the elegant. Models Mariacarla Boscono, Zayna Cisse, Imaan Hammam, and others inhabit the cloths, merging with the barren landscape like they belong there, yet stand out as otherworldly beings.

Blazy’s designs—feather-light skirts and imposing, sculptural coats—create a powerful contrast against the desert’s raw backdrop. They are protective, almost armor-like, yet fluid, interacting with the environment in a way that feels at once familiar and alien.

Alec Soth’s photography leans into this tension, capturing every detail with a clarity that makes the desert’s rough textures feel palpable. The intertwined craftsmanship of Bottega Veneta’s signature intrecciato accessories echoes the twisted resilience of desert flora. These elements—hardy yet intricate—ground the campaign in a tactile reality, even as it flirts with the supernatural.

Rahim Fortune’s accompanying film amplifies the campaign’s mood of quiet anticipation. Sweeping shots of the desert give way to closeups of models moving through the landscape with a sense of purpose, as though on the brink of a revelation. The soundtrack by Le Motel adds to the suspense, mixing ambient sounds of crackling fire and wind with an electronic hum that feels like a signal from beyond. The film creates a sense of impending discovery, of something hidden just out of sight.

Thew new Fall 2024 ad campaign is a stark reminder of Bottega Veneta’s refusal to conform to digital noise. Blazy and Soth have crafted a narrative that commands attention, drawing the viewer into a world where the line between reality and the unknown blurs. It’s a visual exploration of craft, design, and environment, where each element enhances the other. The visuals unfold in the endless expanse of the desert, challenging you to see beyond the horizon.

Hair
Duffy

Makeup
Dame Pat McGrath

Casting Director
Anita Bitton

Music
Le Motel

Bottega Veneta Creative Director
Matthieu Blazy

Photographer
Alec Soth

Film Director
Rahim Fortune

Location
Utah and Nevada

all content (c) Bottega Veneta 2024

Talents + Models
Mariacarla Boscono, Zayna Cisse, Luke Clod, Walid Fiher, Imaan Hammam, Liz Kennedy, Hoyong Kim, Hejia Li, Mamuor Majeng, Rolf Schrader, Hedi Ben Tekaya & Penelope Ternes