Who said disco was dead?
Certainly not Valentino Beauty, who is bringing back Studio 54 for the night of Sept. 10. It marks the brand’s 2025 Born in Roma Rendez-Vous Ivory Collection which, according to the brand, sold out in one day during a Sephora app preview.
“This place is pretty mythical, from the end of the ’70s and into the ’80s, where pop culture was created,” said Claudia Marcocci, Valentino Beauty’s global president. “The idea was to not make this a commercial event, it’s a cultural event. This is in the original landmark, with everything that made the original: performances, and some of the iconic elements of Studio 54.”
Those coincide with yet-to-be-named “new talents coming to the house,” Marcocci said, “and one of them will join us for Studio 54.”
The idea for this specific revival, Marcocci said, came from the brand’s own DNA. “We’re inclusive by nature, but also exclusive because we’re a luxury brand. We don’t take ourselves very seriously, there’s always a moment to celebrate. Studio 54 was the only place we could create a moment around that.”
Marcocci also noted that consumers are keeping in tune with newness, but through a nostalgic lens. “There is a generation of people that are all fascinated by things that don’t exist anymore,” she said. “Valentino himself was there and part of the group that made Studio 54 famous.
“Everybody can do advertising, but I think when you have a brand that has been culturally relevant for 70 years now, this is part of telling stories, bringing people back, and we own that nostalgia,” Marcocci continued.
The activation comes at a time of growth for Valentino Beauty which, Marcocci said, would be 15 times larger by sales volume than when L’Oréal first acquired the license in 2018. “We have the leadership on female fragrances for almost a year, we have double-digit growth in all the major European markets,” she said. “That’s mostly led by fragrances, with makeup we are just getting started.”
That traction, Marcocci said, comes from the brand hitting the sweet spot between desirability and accessibility. “We do things our own way. There’s a mix of grace and intrigue, and it’s not a flat brand. People tend to believe something cannot be exclusive and inclusive, and we’ve shown with Born in Roma that we could be both. That’s exactly what Studio 54 used to stand for.”
Though her considerations for the revival are more qualitative than quantitative — building out the space has taken the brand weeks — she also thinks that is where marketing is going. “I always believe that the biggest market is the world of make-believe. People want authenticity, brands that stand for something and brands that have stood for a long time,” she said.
With the limited editions of the fragrance, she anticipates those brand fanatics to collect them, and to also benefit from holiday gifting.
