No, don’t worry, this isn’t yet another invitation to join a Zoom panel discussion. It is however, an invitation to check out Valentino’s latest virtual offering: an immersive interactive digital shopping experience called ‘Valentino Insights’. Like many other major fashion brands this year, Valentino has taken to digital means of showcasing its Valentino Diary Collection. This wouldn’t be the first time the fashion house has gone this route, even without a global pandemic. In 2011, it launched its virtual museum desktop application, that allowed viewers to go through five decades of Valentino’s work, and in 2018 it collaborated with Alibaba to give us a virtual shop experience. This year, although the premise is the same, the set up is a bit different.

Set in a sprawling modernist Italian villa inspired by creative director Pierpaolo Piccioli’s own home, the latest virtual experience feels more like an interactive video-game. We can walk around and interact with different objects strewn all over the house. And it’s not just Valentino products this time, although of course, we have plenty of those as well. We find objects like vinyl record players that play a curated Spotify playlist, we can click on a red old-school telephone to hear a recorded voice message, or we can flip through a digital copy of a book titled Empathy, that explains the ethos behind the collection. There’s also a TV playing a video of Piccioli’s first fashion shoot with his friend, and by the pool you’ll find a photo-diary with scribbles from the man himself.

Along the way there are various Valentino mules and sandals and sneakers laid across the floor that we can click on and purchase, if we so desire. There are also giant versions of the Valentino Roman Stud Chain Bag, the focus of this collection, hanging on a bias from the very high ceilings. In fact, the high ceilings and the huge spacious rooms with panelled floor-to-ceiling windows make the house feel like an ancient Roman palace, although that could partly be because of the eery ambient background music that keeps playing.

In the ginormous bedroom of the house you find two huge portraits of the newest face of Valentino, Euphoria star Zendaya, as well as a console table hosting the new Voce Viva perfume, and some jewellery, all of which is available to shop. Also available to shop is everything within the giant walk-in closet also within the same room.

The Valentino Insights experience is certainly an interesting way to shop the latest Valentino products, and if nothing else, it will surely give you great interior decorating inspiration. Check it out for yourself at the Valentino website.