Maison Valentino reveals its Essential line, which was entirely shot using artificial intelligence. The project came to life through the partnership of Art Director Tommaso Garner and AI Designer Maria Dal Maso.

The collection is said to be an effort to push innovation by exploring the relationship between AI and fashion, with the imagery from the campaign hinting at the endless amount of possibilities between the two, as first reported by HERO.

Timeless and evolving staples tell the story of Valentino and propel it into the future.​

Delve into the world of #MaisonValentinoEssentials, now at Maxfield.

— Valentino (@MaisonValentino) January 11, 2023

“Essence is the extract, the concentrate of a vision. As such it represents what is permanent as opposite to the accidental. Essential are the things that retain such quality, which by its very nature is dynamic, instead of being static. Essence, in fact, fleets in its permanence,” shared the storied fashion house on the collection.

It went on to state that the quest for this essence and the definition of what is essential are central to the vision of its Creative Director of Maison, Pierpaolo Piccioli.

The house shares that Piccioli’s work is characterized by “an unremitting, graceful sense of pureness, by lines that are exact, streamlined and vibrating.”

Maison Valentino Essentials collection features pieces created to stir thought surrounding contemporary masculinity and highlight the fact that many barriers have fallen regarding how men should look and feel.

“Masculine codes are resignified in accord with the Couture spirit of the Maison, just as the Couture spirit, and the feminine extravaganza it stands for, stains and fluidifies the masculinity of tailoring,” shared the house, adding “the result in formalwear charged with a sense of ease, fluidity and a genuine disregard for gender connotations and the bossy attitude of the past, but not for the authenticity of each item and its essence.”

Inspirations for the collection were said to be drawn from Italian movies of the 50s and 60s and at several subcultures that have deconstructed the traditional thought of the “iron man” and given way to more optionality in how one can dress.

The Essentials consists of items like tailored blazers, bermuda shorts, foulard blouses, coats, pajamas, and more — as well as several Valentino Garavani accessories. These items are said to express both timeliness and timelessness in one, highlighting individual expression with “uniforms of nonuniformity.”

In other news, see how fashion design is being reborn through AI with Baris Gencel’s Metamorphosis  collection.