With everyone is still zigging along doing streetwear, Red Valentino has wisely opted to zag. For Resort 2020, Pierpaolo Piccioli and his design team are going back to the core of Valentino’s sub-brand: prettiness and femininity. “Romanticism is not only an attitude, it’s a real wardrobe where girls can put their dreams into reality. The freedom to be oneself, with their own point of view,” said Piccioli of Red’s return to form. Photographed in the pale pink of Valentino’s India Mahdavi–designed flagship store in Rome, the collection is a macaron-color fantasy made up of point d’esprit frocks dotted with tiny clusters of glitter. Against the harshness of the real world, these delectable little things take on an almost urgent appeal, especially when you consider the layering possibilities of, say, a sheer lilac coat or an aquamarine dress with a Victorian collar.
The Red Valentino reverie does meet reality in a more pragmatic sense here and there. Plissé typically used on RV skirts has moved onto tops and jackets, with the backs of denim shirts and a leather Perfecto tented out in ripples of pleats. Practical shirting and khaki trenches flesh out a middle section of the collection, while a smattering of black daywear pieces and evening dresses close the lookbook. It’s here, in rigid ’80s ruffles and almost metal graphics, that you’ll find small touches of subversion, like cropped bomber jackets and naughty lace dresses. In these photos Red Valentino is a pretty proposition, but worn in the real world, the pieces can have bite.
