Empathy Is Center Stage In Valentino Fall/Winter 2020 Campaign

Valentino’s Creative Director Pierpaolo Piccioli presents one of the most beautiful and emotionally-resonant ad campaigns for the Fall/Winter 2020 season. The designer chooses to focus on the human condition and connections that transcend limitations created in the global COVID-19 crisis with a campaign called #ValentinoEmpathy.

“We are always connected by empathy as we are all made of emotions,” Piccioli said. “We are human beings full of energies and these energies are causing changes, positive ones.”

For the Fall/Winter 2020 campaign, Piccioli recruited members of the Valentino family who are photographed wearing fall Valentino fashion by someone they spent much time with during lockdown. The stellar cast includes Adut Akech, Christy Turlington, Gwyneth Paltrow, Janet Mock, Laura Dern, Liu Wen, Naomi Campbell, Rossy de Palma and more.

None of the talents have been compensated for their participation in the campaign. Instead, all their fees, along with a donation of €1 million (more than $1 million), will be offered to the Lazzaro Spallanzani Hospital in Rome, Italy, the nation’s hub for combating COVID-19. 

This contribution was preceded by the €2 million that Mayhoola, Valentino’s parent company, donated to the Sacco Hospital and Protezione Civile in Italy, the €1 million to La Fondation Hôpitaux de Paris-Hôpitaux de France, and €1 million to the field hospital set up at Feria de Madrid in Spain.

Expressing a loving attitude, Piccioli said “I really would like to let Rome know that Valentino’s friends, not only the brand, are here!” Piccioli said.

The designer was photographed for the campaign by his 14-year-old daughter, Stella. Piccioli is standing in their garden, holding a sign with the word :empathy” scrawled in his wife’s lipstick.