Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli showed a bonus Valentino Haute Couture collection last week in New York. Forty-seven white dresses and gowns in chiffon, organza, and lace, each one more lavish than the last. Red Valentino is at the opposite end of the spectrum; it’s the entry point to the designers’ world, but they bring a similar eye for embellishment to the line. Cargo jackets and pants for Pre-Fall were beaded with hearts and flowers; dresses were hand-knit or patchworked in leather in bold Pop art motifs that echoed their Fall ’14 signature collection; and short trenchcoats were grommeted from shoulder to hem. You saw touches of the ’60s in the dolly-bird dresses, and of the ’40s in the peak-shoulder, feather-sleeve jackets. “Layers of memories,” is the way Piccioli described the clothes via phone from Rome. The mash-up didn’t look unfamiliar; vintage tropes of this sort have long been material for collections aimed at fashion’s youngest consumers, but the special detailing and fine fabrications like that leather and, in place of lace, lots of point d’esprit elevate Red Valentino above its contemporaries.