Dior Days : A Couture Retrospective

Monika Jagaciak in Dior Couture Spring 1960

Vintage Valentino - Spring/Summer 1992

Christy Turlington by Mario Testino

Vintage Valentino - Spring/Summer 1994

Tricia Heffner by Walter Chin

Vintage Valentino - 1995 Ad Campaigns

Nadja Auermann by Steven Meisel

Vintage Valentino - Spring/Summer 1997

Nadja Auermann by Steven Meisel

Vintage Valentino - Haute Couture, Fall/Winter 2003

Jessica Stam by Steven Meisel

Valentino Fragrance Ads

Natalia Belova by Luca Stoppini

Valentino Spring/Summer 2007

Iselin Steiro by Mert & Marcus

Valentino Haute Couture, Fall/Winter 2007-2008

Models : Anna Tokarska, Bruna Tenorio, Kasia Struss, Katarina Ivanovska, Erin Heatherton
by Mark Seliger

Valentino Haute Couture Spring/Summer 2008 - Advertorial

Valentino Spring/Summer 2008 Ad Campaign

BIG NAMES FOR A FAREWELL BOW: For the final ad campaign to be published before Valentino retires, the brand tapped a top model duo of the Nineties — Amber Valletta and Shalom Harlow — as well as Raquel Zimmermann, Anja Rubik, Michael Gandolfi and Oriol Elcacho. Harper's Bazaar editor at large Brana Wolf styled the colorful campaign, shot by Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin at a private home in Los Angeles. Raul Martinez, chief executive officer and executive creative director at AR, said the campaign was shot in L.A. because of the connection Valentino has had with Hollywood throughout his 40-year career. "I think one of the key pieces that we were striving for with this campaign was to make the Valentino woman feel more grounded, still stylized but not totally untouchable," Martinez said. "You still feel the glamour that is the Valentino brand, but it's done in a more contemporary way." The campaign breaks in the February issue of Vanity Fair.

Valentino After Valentino - Fall/Winter 2008-2009

There's a deeper concept behind Alessandra Facchinetti's first Valentino ad campaign than just a pretty picture. Shot by Peter Lindbergh in Paris, the fall images embody the designer's vision for the fashion house.

Eager for a clean break, Facchinetti opted for what she calls a "groupage," or several images conceived to run together in multiples of two, from a minimum of four to a total of eight. The idea is to tell a story and to better display the world of Valentino, from men's and women's wear to eyewear and accessories.
The grouping includes a mix of studio and location shots, in both color and black-and-white.

Valentino - Alessandra's Last Hurrah - Spring/Summer 2009

Stephanie Seymour & Andres Segura by Mert & Marcus

Valentino After Facchinetti - Spring/Summer, 2010

Dree Hemingway by Mert & Marcus

Alexander McQueen, RTW Spring 2004

PARIS, October 10, 2003
By Sarah Mower - style.com

It takes a showman like Alexander McQueen to get the lifeblood pumping back into fashion performance. His show—staged in the Salle Wagram, a nineteenth-century Parisian dance hall—was an exuberantly hilarious reenactment of Sydney Pollack's Depression-era film They Shoot Horses, Don't They?Choreographed by Michael Clark over two weeks of intensive rehearsals in London, the narrative involved dancers, models, and audience in a visceral celebration of exquisitely glamorous clothes.

In the opening scene, the girls entered—dancing for all they were worth on the arms of muscle-bound sailors and hunky hopefuls—dressed in fishtailed silver lamé, figure-hugging cha-cha dresses, and show-stopping gowns with spangled bodices and huge feathered skirts. Other competitors whirled on wearing pink corseted tulle tutus over gray ballet sweats; mint satin tap-suits; or a slinky confection of gray checkerboard chiffon. A Billie Holiday look-alike, dramatically vamping in pink charmeuse and ostrich, vied for attention as flashy bodysuited showgirls were energetically twirled aloft by their partners. 

"Charming Lolita" by Ellen von Unwerth (1992)

"Charming Lolita" by Ellen von Unwerth

Vogue Italia, April 1992

Model : Kate Moss

Alexander McQueen Spring/Summer 2005

Paris, October 8, 2004

By Sarah Mower - style.com

"It was a lot of McQueen, all in one big collection." Thus spake the designer after a performance that came across as a positioning statement—in more ways than one. The presentation summed up all his experience in sharp tailoring, spectacular romantic dresses, couture richness, and downright showmanship. And, with every look laid out on a giant chessboard, it couldn't help but suggest a metaphor for the workings of the fashion industry.

The chess device allowed McQueen to redo all his greatest moments, but in a prettier, lighter, more accessible way. He used the 1975 film Picnic at Hanging Rock to work a girlish Edwardian theme, starting with tiny sailor jackets, school blazers, ticking-striped shirts, and gray knee-length shorts, then adding lovely white lace blouses and dresses. From there, it was onto the eighteenth century, in the form of precious flower-embroidered jackets over candy-striped puffball skirts, and dreamy floral chiffon dresses floating from Empire bodices.

"The Dance of the Twisted Bull" - Alexander McQueen Spring/Summer 2002

PARIS, October 6, 2001
Alexander McQueen, England’s most iconoclastic designer, presented a fantastic collection in Paris Saturday that was almost as energetically bizarre as its title, "The Dance of the Twisted Bull."

Voss, Alexander McQueen, Spring 2001

I've scoured the internet for weeks trying to find footage of Alexander McQueen's spectacular "Voss" fashion show from Spring 2001. Back in the age before bloggers, the only chance to see McQueen's breathtaking and controversial shows was either to have a golden ticket, or be glued to fashion television at the right time. There were no online archives of fashion shows like today, no YouTube, no Vimeo. I heard about this show and have imagined it in my mind over and over again. I've been able to find a few excerpts of the performance, and even those little snippets reveal more creativity and brilliance than any show I've seen since.  Lee did more than fashion. His shows were equally as important as the clothes, and he often had very unsettling messages to share with the fashion world. Since I can't show you the entire show, please read the review provided in order to get the closest feel to what it was really like that September evening eleven years ago.

Alexander McQueen - A Retrospective

Each Saturday, I will feature a different show from Alexander McQueen's collections, including his work for Givenchy.

McQueen always started every collection with an idea or a concept for the runway presentation before the fashions. After the concept, he would have this elaborate sort of storyboard with these various references from art, from film, from music—his influences from everywhere. The actual creative process in terms of the clothes themselves were often designed directly on the mannequin during a fitting. So fittings, for McQueen, were incredibly important.