Valentino .. pre-fall 2014

From the get go, the one thing that must be made abundantly clear is that I have not an iota of difficulty or criticism about neither the quality of material nor the manufacture of this collection. These factors or aspects are far above any type of criticism... even mine!

Due to the enormity of the collection, we’re going to address it from a different kind of review and that will be observations and or words that came to mind during the viewing. Hopefully this will help coalesce my feelings as well as set the tenor of the review.

Monolithic, double faced wools, crepes, wings, feathers, flight, birds sharp edges; while on the subject of feathers and in this case flying “animals” let’s talk about the  butterfly pattern which is oddly reminiscent of an old Gucci scarf pattern and the owl sweater which is a kissing cousin to the Krizia of 30 years ago.

Let’s chat of the “Prada-sizing “of the collection which personally offends my eyes and lowers my opinion of the designers i.e. those hideous brogues with delicate lace frocks or the very graphic printed furs. Maybe it is that ugly is the  new pretty but no matter the clothes would have been far better served with footwear that was more in keeping with the feeling of the clothes.

Okay, onward here, can we talk about mink trimmed cropped pants and shorts? I thought not! May we can chat about the excessive use of feathers which I am pretty sure surpassed that of Alexander McQueen’s in that historic collection. Upon further examination, here are some more descriptives for Valentino … monastic, young, odd, exquisite, matronly, laughable, clumsy, delicate, heavy handed and ethereal. Therein lies all aspects of this collection as well as all bases covered.

We need to point a finger at those 2 pieces with the clear plastic ruffle and nun’s bib … WTF were you people thinking? For me, the black and white grouping was just gorgeous and the simplicity of the red gown was just perfection. The shirtwaist dresses, while beautiful in their execution fall on matronly eyes.

With a seasonal collection and selection that is as varied as this, the retailer is afforded the opportunity to buy the collection with their own personal vision as well as the designers’ point of view. What it does for the consumer is provide endless possibilities for their own personal edit of the collection.

P.S. much to love and much to dislike intensely ... your choice!!