sorel ss26 | forever wild

Alessandro Michele has returned with yet another romance story for Maison Valentino. The latest project manifests in the form of a special campaign celebrating Qixi, China’s traditional festival dedicated to love – often described as the Chinese Valentine’s Day – rooted in an ancient legend of two lovers reunited only once a year.

Shot by photographer and visual artist Wing Shya, best known for his long-standing collaboration with filmmaker Wong Kar-wai and the dreamlike visual language he helped define across contemporary cinema, the campaign stars friend of the House Lars Huang alongside models Yidan Huang and Zen Yue, all dressed in looks from the Valentino Pre-Autumn 2026 collection.

The atmospheric interiors of a bookstore act as the setting for the imagery, where our three protagonists drift between shelves, hidden corners and tight passageways – sometimes crossing paths but never fully connecting. A curtain (or most commonly a ‘jade curtain’) is actually the recurring threshold, dividing what’s revealed from what stays concealed and mirroring the festival’s own themes of longing and anticipation.

Wing Shya for Valentino.

Wing Shya for Valentino.

Shya’s contemplative eye brings a soft, diffused quality to every frame, transforming the campaign into an intentional canvas for the collection’s most expressive tactile pieces. The visual narrative heavily features the Valentino Garavani Panthea bag, a multi-textured shoulder bag crafted in an eclectic patchwork of suede and shiny nappa leather with a distinct chevron motif. Sitting alongside it is the contemporary Valentino Garavani DeVain bag, appearing as a small shoulder pouch in both a sleek, laminated gold nappa and an intricate, multi-coloured embroidered denim.

The ready-to-wear styling frames a relaxed yet sophisticated 1970s energy, showcasing a cosy ivory-and-black wool jumper, tailored denim trousers, a vibrant pink wool-crepe mini skirt and a chocolate-and-ivory Vichy cotton short dress. This texturally rich wardrobe is accessorised with subverted high-jewellery touches, including the Pas plus resin earrings and the Vlogo Signature gold necklace strung with cream glass beads. Footwear from the Valentino Garavani Rockstud family commands the lower frames, highlighting classic 100mm kidskin pumps in pristine white and stark onyx.

Wing Shya for Valentino.

For Qixi 2026, Valentino chooses to celebrate what remains unspoken – the heavy tension of waiting, the possibility of connection and the invisible pull that continues to draw people back towards one another across the length of a year.

Discover more here.

photography. courtesy of Wing Shya for Valentino
words. Gennaro Costanzo

Louis Vuitton.

For Louis Vuitton, the famous Monogram Flower – originally sketched by Georges Vuitton way back in 1896 – has shifted far beyond its canvas-and-trunk origins while still being one of the Maison’s most recognisable signatures almost 130 years later. Now, Louis Vuitton is expanding its fine jewellery offering with a fresh chapter of the Idylle Blossom collection, introducing new diamond-set creations that bring renewed lightness to one of its most enduring motifs, alongside a striking new addition to its high jewellery line.

Originally launched in 2012, Idylle Blossom has always approached the Monogram Flower with a softer, more delicate sensibility than its colourful sibling, Color Blossom. The collection celebrates sculptural goldwork enhanced by brilliant-cut diamonds, allowing the iconic flower to appear either fully open or abstracted into its rounded and pointed petals.

Louis Vuitton.

The latest additions continue that philosophy through an expanded selection of rings, pendants and earrings crafted in white gold. Diamond pavé intensifies the signature motif while preserving its effortless wearability, striking a balance between everyday elegance and fine jewellery craftsmanship. The pieces are designed to be worn individually as understated accents or layered together, encouraging a more personal approach to styling instead of traditional jewellery formality.

Where this chapter pushes furthest is in high jewellery, built around Louis Vuitton’s own LV Monogram Star cut diamond, a proprietary stone shaped directly by the geometry of the Monogram Flower itself. A fluid necklace culminates in the pairing of a pavé Monogram Flower with the Star cut diamond, its hidden clasp engineered to disappear entirely into the design so the piece keeps its rhythm uninterrupted. Matching earrings repeat the same floral language, while an open Toi et Moi ring sets the flower and the Star cut diamond in dialogue with one another, giving the collection a technical edge alongside its softer fine jewellery pieces.

Louis Vuitton.

Versatility remains central to the collection’s appeal. Long necklaces sit alongside shorter pendants, delicate bracelets can be stacked across mixed gold tones, while multi-motif designs reinterpret the Monogram Flower in rhythmic sequences that match Louis Vuitton’s wider visual language.

The new Idylle Blossom creations are available through Louis Vuitton boutiques and the Maison’s fine jewellery collections online. Discover more here.

photography. courtesy of Louis Vuitton
words. Gennaro Costanzo

The outer world doesn’t care about shortcuts – and neither does Maxine Fearlight. As the rogue brand hero of Oakley fights her way across the unmapped, hazardous frontier in ‘Future Genesis Chapter 2,’ her narrative universe has officially bled out of the comic book pages and straight onto the face. Infiniloop is the brand’s latest avant-garde design breakthrough, transforming the maths of a single continuous line into a piece of collectible, wearable architecture built to withstand the bleakest future.

Developed as a prototyping breakthrough, the design explores the geometry of infinity by reducing the frame to the fewest possible structural elements needed to support a lens across the face. Titanium forms the upper frame while Oakley’s signature O-Matter™ material shapes the lower section, the two meeting at only a handful of precise connection points. Large sections of negative space allow the high-contrast Prizm™ Black lenses to appear as though they’re floating independently, exposing their outer edges and creating an unusually light visual profile without compromising structural integrity.

Oakley.

Minimal doesn’t mean understated, however. The polished titanium construction, paired with the oversized shield lenses, gives Infiniloop an almost industrial elegance that feels closer to conceptual product design than traditional sports eyewear. Available in either Polished Chrome or Matte Black, each version balances technical precision with a distinctly collectible appeal.

Oakley isn’t treating the launch as an isolated product drop either: Infiniloop becomes the latest chapter in Future Genesis – the brand’s ongoing fictional universe that connects its most experimental designs through graphic storytelling. Accompanying the release is a collector’s edition comic book continuing ‘Future Genesis Chapter 2’, which follows protagonist Maxine Fearlight as her journey beyond the known world takes another turn. The narrative acts as an extension of the design philosophy itself, positioning products like Infiniloop as artefacts from a speculative future.

Oakley.

The release continues Oakley’s long-standing fascination with pushing eyewear beyond performance into the territory of industrial design. The Oakley Infiniloop is available now in limited quantities through Oakley stores, selected retailers and online, making it one of the brand’s most exclusive eyewear releases of the season.

Find out more here.

photography. courtesy of Oakley
words. Gennaro Costanzo