Valentino Vintage Is Headed To A Fashion School Near You

Launched in 2021, Valentino Vintage is more than the Italian brand's foray into creating a more sustainable fashion industry, it was a way of introducing their past to a new consumer base. Promoting a circular shopping economy, Valentino Vintage teamed up with iconic vintage stores in London, Paris, Seoul, Milan, Tokyo, New York and Los Angeles, urging customers to bring and shop vintage Valentino pieces.

The sustainable initiative is going in an entirely new direction with the final phase of the project. Partnering with London-based platform 1Granary, Valentino Vintage donated five archival looks to seven fashion and art schools around the world, giving students a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get up close and personal with the maison's iconic designs.

Takeovers at IED in Milan, Institut Français de la Mode in Paris, Central Saint Martins in London, Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles, Coconogacco in Tokyo, ESMOD in Seoul, and Parsons School of Fashion in New York, gave students the chance to engage with Valentino's designs with hands-on experiences. This included in-depth studies of the pieces, drawing sessions, experience with AR filters, reinterpretation workshops, shooting, styling projects and more.

The genius of the Valentino Vintage project is how it repositions the brand's archival designs as important tools to teach the next generation of creatives. Rather than hiding the past in locked archives, giving students the ability to engage with these designs breathes new life into them creating a different kind of circular fashion economy where creativity trumps commerce. Extending the brand's knowledge of garment design to students allows a cross-cultural exchange where students can develop a new set of tools in garment construction otherwise gatekept for the atelier. Here's hoping we will get a showcase of the inspired works soon.