Italian luxury brand Valentino is making headlines today, with news that the maison’s creative director Pierpaolo Piccioli has come to the end of his Valentino tenure after 25 years.

Related: Pierpaolo Piccioli's Humanist-Focus Chapter Ends at Maison Valentino AOC Daily

The Italian humanist was not a member of the Maison Valentino family in 1995, when esteemed photographer Herb Ritts [IG] created this series of elegant but sensually provocative images anchored by Christy Turlington of the Valentino F/W 1995.96 collection for Vanity Fair US.

AOC wonders if fashion scholars have explored this transition of sexual mores, especially within the Italian brands, who historically and geographically lived closer to the Levant-based lands of the goddess worship that predated monotheism.

What is true is that the woman — Turlington here — is the center of this ritualistic fashion ritual, captured for Valentino in 1995 by Herb Ritts.