A Kaiserpanorama installation recreated Alessandro Michele’s “Specula Mundi” couture show through images by photographer Mark Borthwick.A Kaiserpanorama installation recreated Alessandro Michele’s “Specula Mundi” couture show through images by photographer Mark Borthwick.
At Valentino’s Los Angeles party, the view required leaning in.
Inside the Marciano Art Foundation, a creative crowd — including Teyana Taylor, Patricia Arquette, Tate McRae, Sombr, Maude Apatow and Dree Hemingway — gathered around a glowing Kaiserpanorama installation at the center of the room, peering through small windows to take it in.
On the other side, a recreation of Alessandro Michele’s “Specula Mundi” couture show in Paris unfolded, replacing live models with a continuous visual sequence of images from a new book of the same name by British photographer Mark Borthwick.
“I mean, I’d love to encourage the notion that our spirits guided us together and brought us together. There’s an angelic being that collectively created this collaboration,” Borthwick said of his creative relationship with Michele.
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The partnership builds on an earlier collaboration, when Michele and Borthwick worked together on the Gucci x Harry Styles “Ha Ha Ha” campaign in 2022, during Michele’s tenure at that Italian house.
“Fashion for me is a dream world,” Borthwick continued. “It’s an incredible luxury, an incredible privilege that we can create a space that other people can walk into, that other people can dream through the images that we create.”
The process resisted structure altogether, he said: “There was no plan. Something magical happened upon its own volition.”
Michele has described Borthwick in similarly poetic terms. The creative director, who was at the party greeting L.A. friends and collaborators all night, told WWD the project was conceived as a collector’s piece. “I would not define Mark as a pure photographer,” he said. “He is a poet that also uses photography to capture a moment, to deliver suggestions. The camera is like an extension of his body.”
Produced in a limited edition of 1,500 copies, “Specula Mundi” (Latin for “mirror of the world”) spans 422 images across 260 pages, available from May 11 in select Valentino boutiques worldwide for $350.
The installation encouraged a slower, more deliberate way of seeing. Narrowing the gaze, like at the couture show, the experience brought the focus to the work, the clothes. No distractions, no phones.
“I mean, it’s true, everyone is usually on their phone the entire time or taking videos,” said Apatow, who spent time circling the installation. “It’s distracting. We’re texting, and it’s so crazy that that’s become the norm. So it’s cool to not have that. It’s inventive and inspiring.”
Apatow wore a short floral Valentino dress styled with lace tights and heels.
“I love a girly, delicate, glamorous look,” she said. “I’m a huge fan of everything that Alessandro does. He’s such an incredible artist.”
Hemingway, dressed in Valentino pink — a subtle nod to the book’s cover — was equally taken by the presentation.
“It’s art,” she said. “It feels like a deconstructed version of everything. It really shows the artistry behind the show.”
She went on, “It’s hard to describe because it’s a feeling, but all of this feels sculptural, more than just fashion. Mark’s photography is so incredible, so the marriage of both of them — his work and Alessandro’s vision — is such a beautiful thing.”
