Hi there! I’ve been on a bit of a hiatus from my blog as I’ve been pretty busy with other commitments, such is life ay!

However, for this edition I want to talk about one thing and one thing only, the wonder of Valentino. It is undoubtedly one of the biggest names in fashion, everything from the Haute Couture to the accessories. I’m lucky enough to work on the marketing for Valentino Eyewear in the UK and part of my job is to know the brand and fortunately this is far from a chore.

The brand was established in 1960 by now legendary designer Valentino Garavani and his business partner Giancarlo Giammetti, Valentino S.p.A. in recent years celebrated a major cornerstone, its 50th anniversary further consecrating its heritage and success story. In October 2008, Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli were named Valentino Creative Directors, which has proved to be a game-changing move for the brand as the duo have been credited with re-inventing the brand with an astonishing success. They have an unparalleled attention to detail and focus their attention on every element of the brand, they’ve also become household names in themselves as any designer does with a brand they revolutionise, as Karl Lagerfeld became a part of Chanel and Stella McCartney became a part of Chloe. This has just been further recognised as the designers have won the CFDA International Award, which has been won in the past by the likes of Raf Simons, Riccardo Tisci and Phoebe Philo. As a brand Valentino in the past were known for its high society female customer, opulence and pure luxury, now the brand has edge, a younger following and designs which we have quickly seen replicated down to high street level. The Rockstud is now an iconic element the brand, the Camu is now synonymous with the brand whether it be on the leather goods or the trainers.

The recent PR stunt during the Fall/Winter 2015-16 fashion show at Paris Fashion Week at the Jardin des Tuileries, where two stars of the upcoming Zoolander 2 film took centre stage on the runway was a resounding accomplishment. Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson took over the runway in a mix of custom suiting and pieces from the Valentino 2015 Collection and then took part in a photo shoot on the streets of Paris in head to toe Camu (I’d especially like to note the Valentino sunglasses worn by Ben Stiller). The stunt once again proved the brands new direction and was talked about on everything from Vogue to Buzzfeed.

The brand is a perfect example of what fashion is best for, expression, designs you can only dream of, re-invention, I may not have a Haute Couture gown or a pair of Rock Stud heels but my Valentino sunglasses and my Camou glasses are my little piece of Valentino and hopefully just the start of my collection.