How Valentino Honors Women’s Voices Through Cultural Immersion

In celebration of International Women’s Day 2025, Valentino unveiled a series of initiatives in Shanghai, bringing together female creators across photography, literature, and music to explore the evolving dimensions of female expression. By weaving together visual storytelling, live performances, and literary discourse, the initiative offers a multi-sensory reflection on identity, emotion, and artistic agency.

At Fotografiska Shanghai, renowned photographer Rinko Kawauchi presents a deeply personal visual diary captured during the pandemic, illustrating how women navigate meaning between grand historical narratives and intimate everyday moments. The exhibition was accompanied by a limited-time Valentino flower shop from March 7 to 9, where flowers—symbolizing beauty, resilience, and renewal—serve as a poetic bridge between art and nature.

Meanwhile, at Union Church, a former Protestant church in the city, a lineup of female musicians took the stage in a one-night-only live house event, using sound as a medium to explore the interplay between emotion and identity. Their performances offered a powerful auditory journey into the depth and nuance of female perspectives, creating a space for raw, unfiltered storytelling through music.

Valentino extended its cultural initiative into the literary sphere, partnering with Shanghai’s Ideal Nation Bookstore to host an intimate women’s reading salon. Female authors led discussions on writing, life, and emotional experience, positioning literature as a form of personal and collective storytelling. Adding another layer to the dialogue, female bartenders crafted signature cocktails inspired by literature, inviting guests to engage in a multisensory conversation where words meet flavor, intellect meets indulgence, and literature transforms into a lived experience.

By intertwining photography, music, and literature, Valentino’s campaign creates a cross-disciplinary dialogue, allowing different forms of female experience to reflect and amplify one another. More than a campaign, this initiative expands the definition of female expression, offering a nuanced exploration of various voices, mediums, and narratives.