Red Valentino – Pre Spring/Summer 2016 Ready-To-Wear

After last season’s dip into grunge, Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli were eager to return Red Valentino to its roots. And so they went back to Swinging London. It makes more sense than it sounds when you consider that Valentino Garavani founded his label in Rome in 1959, as the mod movement was dawning across the English Channel. Chiuri and Piccioli’s new Resort collection was long on era-appropriate A-line minidresses, a silhouette that they’ve made their own at Valentino. Here and there, the little frocks were kitted out with a boyish touch in the form of a removable lace tie, but in the end the lineup was all girl. Rainbows, strawberries, cherries, musical notes, and even bumblebees were the other recurring details. They made the collection feel sweeter and more youthful than ever. This old lady was pleased to see a short camel trench whose only embellishment was a bull’s-eye on the back.