Italian fashion house Valentino has announced that they will launch an at-home campaign for its forthcoming Fall/Winter 2020 collection.
Titled #ValentinoEmpathy, the set of advertisements will feature a VIP cast, each shot remotely by loved ones in their own homes, whilst wearing pieces from both the men’s and woman’s Fall/Winter 2020 collections. Donating their time for free to star in the campaign will be actresses Laura Dern, Gwyneth Paltrow, Rossy de Palma, and Tiffany Tang Yan; supermodels Kristen McMenamy, Laetitia Casta, Liu Wen, Mariacarla Boscono, and Naomi Campbell; activists Janet Mock and Rula Jebreal; and newcomers Ellery Harper and Tali Lennox.
In lieu of paying the celebrities for their time, a donation of €1 million EUR (approximately $1.5 million CAD) will be given to Rome’s Lazzaro Spallanzani National Institute for Infectious Diseases, which has been Italy’s prime location for COVID-19 research.
Speaking to Vogue, Pierpaolo Piccioli, Valentino’s creative director, shared, “Valentino Empathy is the positive reaction of our community, made of people who share the same values and believe in beauty as a form of freedom. The inclusive and intimate idea that lays behind the campaign reflects a tenderness without which big missions would never be accomplished.”
Piccioli went on to share how the COVID-19 pandemic has brought together the Italian fashion community. “Italian excellence does not only pertain to production and results, it also involves emotions and human beings, of course,” he stated. “Solidarity is part of our culture. I have never felt so close to my team, my friends, and my family. The distance and the sadness of such a serious emergency [have] turned into strength and will power. Now, more than ever, we should work at our best, we should all do what we are good at.”
Valentino’s at-home Fall/Winter 2020 campaign is expected to launch sometime this July.
Earlier this year Mayhoola, Valentino’s parent company, donated €2 million EUR (approximately $3.1 million CAD) to the Sacco Hospital and Protezione Civile in Italy, €1 million EUR (approximately $1.5 million CAD) to La Fondation Hôpitaux de Paris-Hôpitaux de France, and €1 million (approximately $1.5 million CAD) to the field hospital set up at Feria de Madrid in Spain.
