Dakota Johnson wears cutout red mini dress as the face of Valentino’s cruise 2026 campaign

Dakota Johnson is the new face of Alessandro Michele’s Valentino.

The actress, who is already a brand ambassador, now features prominently in the Italian design house’s latest campaign. The advertisements feature clothing and accessories from the cruise 2026 collection, Michele’s first as creative director, which debuted in June.

In the image, shared by Valentino on Instagram, Johnson lies on the ground, gold phone in hand, wearing a red silk chiffon mini dress with cutouts on the torso and frilly off-the-shoulder straps.

The scene depicts the 36-year-old returning home from a night out, with accessories strewn around her, too tired to make it into bed. A bag is pictured, tossed beside her cascading brown hair, with kicked-off aqua heels with thick ankle straps positioned at her other side.

As for who she’s dialing on the landline? Perhaps it’s someone looking to borrow the It-dress of the season — or one of her fellow Valentino campaign stars.

In Michele’s true artistic form, the still images are accompanied by a video, also shared on social media, featuring Johnson, Marisa Berenson, Dev Hynes, Anne Imhof, Tate McRae and Devon Teuscher.

The group moves around individual hotel rooms as Chopin’s “Nocturne In E Flat” plays in the background. The caption reads, “Within every room, a fragment of the universe.”

When the collection was first unveiled, it was shot on models from above, spread out on satin bedspreads below. Each model’s story was aided by accessories, such as a rotary phone, a box of movie theater popcorn, a hair dryer — even a rock ‘n roll guitar. 

If Johnson’s lady-in-red look seems familiar, it’s because we’ve already seen it on at least two other style stars this season.

At the beginning of October, actress Meghann Fahy sat in the front row at Valentino’s spring 2026 runway show in Paris wearing the very same red dress. Then, Miley Cyrus wore it when she was photographed for the pages of French Vogue’s November issue.

Even more surprising is that the eye-catching dress of the season is still available to purchase.

Yes, you, too, can snag the dress for yourself … if you have a big event coming up and $9,900 to burn.