What happens when ancient Roman mythology collides with the cold, heavy iron of early 20th-century industrial machinery? For Valentino’s Interferenze campaign, Creative Director Alessandro Michele took the Italian house far away from traditional, gilded runways—setting his vision inside Centrale Montemartini, Rome’s first public electricity plant turned museum.
Photographed by Glen Luchford with art direction by Ezra Petronio and Lana Petrusevych, the visual campaign places Valentino’s intricate tailoring alongside classical marble statues of Fortuna, Polyhymnia, and Cleopatra, all set against a backdrop of colossal diesel engines, alternators, and flywheels.
Rather than treating the historical site as a simple background, Michele uses the hybrid space to stage what he calls an “impossible imagination.” The soft, flowing lightness of the garments directly contrasts with the sheer weight of cast iron and stone, creating a cinematic narrative where past and present collide.
Borrowing principles of cinematic montage, the imagery relies on dramatic light piercing through shadow, forcing the eye to move between sculptural balance, mechanical power, and living human bodies.
Photo: Valentino