Valentino presents the collaboration with We're Not Really Strangers

Warning: Valentino's new partnership could raise your feelings and empathy level. The Maison created a luxury version of We're not really strangers, the popular card game based on introspection and human connections. The 25 red and white cards composing the pack are embellished with the iconic "V" logo of the brand and contain a series of questions conceived to develop a profound dialogue between players, whether they are friends, family members or newly met people. 

We're not really strangers is more than just a game. It's "a movement empowering connections between people" as founder  Koreen Odiney herself has called it. The Los Angeles-based model and artist started working on the project when she was still in middle school and was a street photographer as a hobby: she used to shoot photos of strangers she met and ask them questions about experiences she was having at the time, questions like "Do you ever get over your first love?", "How are you, really?" or "Who in your life do you feel you could be most vulnerable with?".

WNRS is not just a deck of questions - there are a lot of "question type" card games out there. I wanted it to feel like a unique experience with levels and wild cards, a final card and a "dig deeper" element - Odiney explained to Forbes - I wanted to really make it an experience and a brand. Once the game came together and was finally ready to be released in 2018, I realized that I needed to have a platform to market it, and since I didn't have a big following, I had to get creative.

So, to popularize the concept of the game, Koreen opened the Instagram account @werenotreallystrangers where she collects quotes, motivational catchphrases and small shots of urban poetry. The success has been huge: at launch in November 2018, the model had about 20,000 followers, while today those people have become a community of 3 million individuals sharing experiences and feelings. 

WNRS (which Koreen pronounces "winners") has also won over Hailey Bieber and Gossip Girl and You star Penn Badgley, but how does it work? There are three levels of questions (perception, connection, reflection) and some carefully crafted wild cards to allow players to deepen existing relationships and create new ones. 

The WNRS x Valentino card set is available in a limited edition from mid-January 2021 in select Valentino boutiques worldwide.