Valentino going sporty

In the era of athleisure even iconic luxury brands are getting on board. Valentino's Pierpaolo Piccioli is going after the sporty guy this season, as he's set to debut his next menswear collection for the brand today at Paris Fashion Week Men's.

The brand will also be debuting the new Valentino logo, VLTN, which Piccioli mulled over for quite some time. Eventually, he created a logo that appealed to both himself and his team of designers. Essentially, it is a shortening of the brand name with the original font.

The goal was to make the overall aesthetic more contemporary. Like all luxury brands, Valentino is attempting to court the millennial customer. This season, they've gone more street.

Valentino goes street for menswear collection

"I wanted to be very precise about this idea of street. I think there's a dignity in the streets and in sports," Picciolo said to WWD. "These pieces are really strong and of the moment. They express the culture of the moment and even the culture of the moment of the brand: couture meets street."

Valentino has become very popular among street style culture thanks to their rockstud shoes, bags and accessories.

Now they are capitalizing on that momentum to take the brand into the next era.

Since the departure of Maria Grazia Chiuri, now creative director of Dior, Piccioli has been tasked with continuing to elevate Valentino's offerings and grow their customer base.

In the millennial market, Valentino faces tough competition from brands like Saint Laurent, who count millennials as 70 percent of their customer base.

As Piccioli prepares to debut his revamped menswear today, the question will be how well can he compete?

photo: via Valentino Facebook page