Isabelle Weingarten, Vibeke Knudsen, Sara Kapp, and unknowns by Deborah Turbeville - Valentino Boutique, F/W 1977
The Ghostly Grandeur of Valentino’s 1977 F/W Campaign
In November 1977, the worlds of Roman couture and European art-house cinema collided in a landmark photo series entitled L’Heure Entre Chien et Loup ("The Hour Between Wolf and Dog"). This series is inextricably linked to the Valentino F/W 1977 campaign. While it was published as an editorial in the November 1977 issue of Vogue Italia, it specifically served as the artistic vehicle for Valentino Garavani’s Fall/Winter 1977/78 couture collection. In Turbeville's work, the line between a "fashion editorial" and a "brand advertisement" was intentionally blurred. Valentino commissioned her specifically to create this mood rather than a standard commercial product shoot.
The campaign remains a masterclass in atmospheric photography. Its creator, photographer Deborah Turbeville, was a self-described "romancer of the past" who frequently cited filmmakers as her primary teachers. For Valentino Garavani, she bypassed the polished studio to find beauty in the "decaying grandeur" of the Palazzo Ducale in Mantua.
At the heart of the campaign is its most enduring image: a stark group composition featuring a single model in a vibrant, ruffled red gown, surrounded by a chorus of women clad entirely in heavy, high-collared black. This "red thread" of opulence serves as the visual anchor for the entire collection. Turbeville used this contrast to highlight Valentino’s signature color against a backdrop of shadowy, aristocratic decay, directly inspired by the visual language of Luchino Visconti’s 1973 film Ludwig.
To anchor this cinematic world, Turbeville chose Isabelle Weingarten as her primary muse. Weingarten brought a haunting stillness to the shoot that perfectly complemented the collection’s theatrical silhouettes—from heavy, high-collared capes to the iconic tiered silk chiffon ruffles. These designs were a direct nod to the "Visconti look" crafted by the legendary costume designer Piero Tosi. Tosi, a frequent Oscar nominee celebrated for his work on Ludwig and Il Gattopardo, was famous for his meticulous historical reconstructions that made the past feel tangibly alive.
Valentino Garavani, who shared Tosi’s obsession with Roman craftsmanship and historical romanticism, viewed Tosi's work as a foundational influence. Both men frequented the legendary Sartoria Tirelli in Rome, a shared archive of thousands of historical costumes that allowed the worlds of high fashion and the cinematic elite to constantly swap visual codes. Reflecting on this era of profound Roman creativity, Valentino once noted:
"Cinema has always been my greatest passion. The elegance of the characters created by Visconti and Tosi was the ultimate school of style for me; they understood that true glamour is inseparable from history."
These images, most notably the group in black and red, have become a permanent fixture in the Valentino mood board. Decades later, Pierpaolo Piccioli explicitly cited this 1977 campaign as the direct inspiration for his Spring/Summer 2018 Valentino Couture collection.
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brand: Valentino Boutique, Valentino Couture
campaign: F/W 1977
models: Isabelle Weingarten, Vibeke Knudsen, Sara Kapp, Unknown
photography: Deborah Turbevillesource: the Fashion Spot