Beyond beauty: Ewa Juszkiewicz and Valentino Garavani in a surreal dialogue

AURA pairs Valentino’s haute couture with Ewa Juszkiewicz’s paintings in a striking dialogue between fashion and contemporary art. At PM23 in Rome, archival gowns meet surreal reworkings of female portraiture, exploring how colour, fabric and form challenge conventional ideals of beauty.

Featuring 26 paintings by Juszkiewicz and 38 dresses from the Maison Valentino archives, AURA explores metamorphosis as a shared artistic impulse. Drawing on European portraiture, Juszkiewicz recreates historical compositions while concealing her subjects’ faces beneath intricate arrangements of fabric, hair, flowers and foliage. Her dreamlike imagery subverts classical conventions, questioning established ideals of femininity and beauty.

Valentino’s sculptural gowns offer a complementary vision of the female figure. Expressive colours, sumptuous textures, dramatic volumes and intricate details celebrate individuality through couture. Their juxtaposition invites visitors to reconsider how art and fashion shape perceptions of women.

A shared language of colour and form

Created for the exhibition, Juszkiewicz’s A Portrait In Valentino Red draws inspiration from a gown in Valentino’s Autumn/Winter 2007–08 haute couture collection. Its vivid red textile and palm-leaf motif conceal the painted figure’s face, translating the garment’s sculptural qualities onto canvas. The work captures the exhibition’s central dialogue: couture inspires artistic reinterpretation, while painting reveals new dimensions of a garment’s form and meaning.

Other pairings explore connections through colour, pattern and texture, from an ivory feathered gown alongside a portrait veiled in white fabric to a turquoise Valentino dress echoing the attire in Juszkiewicz’s Girl in Blue (2013). Each encounter enriches the other, revealing unexpected affinities between painted imagery and crafted garments.

At the foundation established by Valentino Garavani and Giancarlo Giammetti, AURA celebrates the designer’s legacy alongside Juszkiewicz’s distinctive vision. The exhibition reveals how couture and contemporary art converge through their shared fascination with beauty, identity and reinvention, challenging familiar images of femininity through material, history and imagination.

Location: PM23 — Fondazione Valentino Garavani e Giancarlo Giammetti, Rome, Italy
Dates: On view through 21 February 2027