Maison Valentino celebrates the upcoming Chinese New Year, beginning on February 17th, with a campaign that honors the Year of the Horse and captures the joy, hope, and spirit of new beginnings that define the festive season.
Chinese New Year Campaign 2026
Conceived by Alessandro Michele, shot by Julie Greve and directed by Marcus Tang, the campaign unfolds as a narrative about dreaming and togetherness. It stars Lareina Song – Chinese actress and Valentino Brand Ambassador – alongside model Yi Fan, both wearing looks and accessories from the Valentino Cruise 2026 collection.
The story takes place in an intimate setting, where details and subtle suggestions evoke the zoetrope carried by the protagonist: a symbolic object that introduces movement, transformation, and desire.
Within this atmosphere, the encounter between the two characters unfolds with natural warmth; gestures grow lighter, culminating in a dreamlike dance, while the horse running through the endless motion of the zoetrope becomes the metaphor of infinite possibilities and of a new beginning.
‘Illuminate Your Dream’, A Chinese Lantern Fair present by Maison Valentino
Maison Valentino will further celebrate the Chinese New Year through ‘Illuminate Your Dream’, a special Lantern Fair to be held in Shanghai at The Shanghai Tianhou Palace, a historic Mazu temple originally built in 1884 along Suzhou Creek in the heart of Jing’an district. The Lantern Fair will take the form of an evocative, contemporary exhibition of light installations that reinterpret the symbolism of the new year – the Year of the Horse – and the idea of new beginnings. Curated by X Zhu-Nowell, the selection brings together artists from the Chinese creative landscape as they translate their personal visions of the theme ’Illuminate Your Dream‘ into fragments of light, transforming each lantern into a wish for the future.
Following the opening event on January 16, ‘Illuminate Your Dream’ Lantern Fair will be open to the public on January 17 and 18. The Lantern Fair, also featuring traditional craft and culinary stalls, will offer an immersive experience that weaves together Chinese heritage and contemporary interpretations.
X Zhu-Nowell
X Zhu-Nowell is a curator, writer, and institutional practitioner, currently serving as Executive Director and Chief Curator of the Rockbund Art Museum (RAM) in Shanghai. Based between Shanghai and New York, their practice is informed by the concept of relational authorship and a curatorial approach that challenges the demand for coherence, instead embracing inquiry shaped by contradiction, displacement, and the labor of (mis)translation.
CREDITS
Creative Director: Alessandro Michele
Photographer: Julie Greve.
Director: Marcus Tang
Talent: Lareina Song
Model: Yifan Lv
MUSIC CREDITS
FUTURE PERFECT
Written by Vini Reilly
Performed by The Durutti Column
Produced by Laurie Lexicon.
Published by Concord Copyrights
℗ & © 1996, Les Disques du Crepuscule/LTM
Licensed courtesy of Les Disques du Crepuscule/LTM & Café Concerto Music Publishing