Valentino's SS27 show turns a Paris library into an "Antilibrary"

Valentino brought its Spring/Summer 2027 runway show, titled "Antilibrary," to the Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève in Paris. Creative director Alessandro Michele set glamorous, maximalist womenswear in lace and feathers against deliberately casual menswear, where boxers showed above the waistband and patterns clashed.

The title comes from writer Umberto Eco. In the show notes, Michele compared his musings on fashion to Eco's idea of the antilibrary, which he quoted as "the collection of books in one's library that remain unread." A library was a fitting room for that idea.

Michele said garments are made every season to meet very different trajectories. Some, he wrote, will cross the space of the show only once. Others stay alive in the images that hold their fleeting appearance, and others enter wardrobes to remain almost untouched, cherished like relics.

He described the collection as belonging to "a realm that transcends the logic of functionality and consumption." In his words it forms "a joyful reservoir of forms, aesthetic sensibilities, silhouettes, and ways of inhabiting the body." That is a manifesto, and the clothes follow it.

How the womenswear opened the show

The womenswear came first and set the tone. Floral lace, satins, and ruched and plisse fabrics made up dresses and two-piece looks in pink, lilac, magenta, gold and green. Fringe and feather trims added glamour, building on Michele's maximalist tendencies.

One women's look pairs a green plaid button-up with a translucent lace skirt carrying jeweled embellishments. Plaid, usually the stuff of classic shirting, therefore crossed over from the menswear into the evening-leaning pieces, and it kept returning throughout the show.

Valentino is the Roman couture house with a color of its own, and its studs became one of the most recognized details in fashion. This season's lace, satin and feathers lean on the other side of the house: ornament and drama rather than hardware.

The menswear and its boxers

The menswear introduced a more casual side. The first look has a black "Villain Teen" cap, a tan leather trench coat, light green pajama pants and color-blocked sandals. The second swaps in a hot pink cap, a brown sequined cardigan and loose, light-wash denim.

In that second look, plaid boxers peek above the waist of the denim. The boxers kept riding above waistbands in assorted patterns and colors, while plaid shirting was often tucked into the bottoms, so the underwear became the show's running detail.

One blue plaid shirt for men switches to sequined floral fabric on the sleeves, and is worn with a pink cap, a deep V-neck and white trousers. Another look pairs a black-and-white polka dot shirt with a floral sequined bib, blue foulard boxers and brown wool trousers.

The close of the show interspersed gowns and dresses with colorful men's looks in unconventional silhouettes. These included a light blue top with experimental tailoring and navy plisse trousers, plus a violet blazer cinched with a red fabric belt.

Michele ended with two contrasting looks: a neutral men's suit and tie under a translucent sheath, and a magenta maxi dress with a plisse train. The pairing summed up the evening, restraint wrapped in plastic beside full-length color.

Wearable or not

Several fabric pairings, palettes and styling choices feel out of the ordinary, even unrealistic, for the commercial market. Michele makes that point himself in his notes, framing the pieces as imaginative relics and as an "expressive potential" more than as stock for stores.

For shoppers, the house's accessories are a more practical route in. When we looked at the best Valentino bags to invest in, prices ran from $800 for the VLogo clutch to $3,550 for the Roman Stud The Handle, as of January 2026.

In that guide we found the VLogo, Rockstud and Roman Stud lines hold their value best, though Valentino bags do not retain resale value as strongly as Hermes, Chanel or Dior. The runway, by Michele's own account, is not built for that logic.