WWD

DIFFERENT STYLES: New Valentino creative directors Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pier Paolo Piccioli are keeping mum about their much-anticipated fashion direction for the house until their debut couture collection in January, but a taste of it comes across in the spring ad campaign. Although the duo styled clothes designed by Alessandra Facchinetti, their predecessor who was ousted the day of her second Valentino ready-to-wear show last October, the message they wanted to convey was one of strong and sharp glamour and sensuality.

So they bypassed last season’s blurry romanticism favored by Facchinetti and captured by Peter Lindberg, and tapped Stephanie Seymour, who was shot in Los Angeles by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott against a gray seamless background. The model strikes graphic poses that set off her toned body, skimpily clad in ruched silk shifts, at times embroidered. The photos, both vertical and horizontal, also zoom in on rose-decorated bags and black sunglasses with rhinestone detailing.

The campaign breaks in fashion magazines in January.

Elsewhere, for his first ad campaign for Bally, Brian Atwood also turned to an ex-top model — Christy Turlington. The pictures taken by Mario Sorrenti channel the glam life of a good-looking, sophisticated and slightly nonchalant couple. Turlington and male model Oriol Elcacho were shot poolside in Miami Beach with intense and saturated colors. The campaign debuts in February magazines.

— Alessandra Ilari