Fan Casting

She designed her first collection at twenty-two in a Milan apartment with one sewing machine. At thirty, she has her own house on Via Montenapoleone. The dress she is wearing to the front row tonight will be copied by forty brands by Monday. Milan Fashion Week — the most concentrated glamour event in the European fashion calendar — is the recurring setting of La Dolce Vita, a three-season series following independent Italian fashion designer Valentina Russo, 30, across three consecutive Fashion Weeks and the twelve months between each. Valentina's house is independent, Milan-based, critically acclaimed, and perpetually financially precarious — she operates on the specific edge between artistic integrity and commercial viability that defines the most interesting fashion in the world. Three seasons track three collections: Season 1 (the breakthrough), Season 2 (the crisis), Season 3 (the reinvention). The romance with architect-turned-set-designer Alessandro Ferretti, who designs the set for her Season 1 show, develops across all three seasons with the specific pace of two people whose creative collaboration precedes and shapes their personal connection. S1E1 — The Collection Six weeks before Fashion Week. The atelier. Valentina in the emerald mini reviewing the samples. Alessandro arriving to discuss the set. S2E4 — The Crisis The second collection's central challenge. A fabric delivery fails. A sample breaks. Valentina in the atelier at 3 AM in the emerald mini — the only thing she put on that morning that still fits. S3E8 — The Show Series finale: Valentina's third show. Alessandro's set. The clothes in the space they were designed for. The party after. The emerald mini.