There are few more joyous occasions in fashion than Paris Couture Week, although this year’s flamboyant celebration of clothing and artistry has been somewhat hampered by the depressed economy and the impending departure of one of the genre’s greatest voices, Christian Lacroix. The fact that he was able to put on a show at all is the big story of the week; suppliers and industry friends helped the designer piece together a last-minute collection and presentation for what could be his last couture show if his brand doesn’t find a backer quickly.

Sweet heavens, I don’t know what has come over me… I actually love this bag! I am not usually one for an over the top frilly bag. I know a lot of you would disagree with me, but hey, that’s just the way I am. However, today, if I didn’t have some sort of self restraint I actually might go out and buy this bag.

If you’re a regular PurseBlog reader, then you know we’ve covered the Valentino Rose Vertigo Shopper in the past. I gave it a rave back then in a shade of Barbie pink, and I thought it was worth a revisit for fall.

We don’t normally revisit bags, but this bag demonstrates better than any other bag I can think of how the change of a color can change a bag’s entire look.

Forget everything I said recently about how bad things come in threes and that means that there would soon be another bad Valentino bag for me to snark on soon. I have never been more utterly and profoundly wrong on this blog before, at least not that I can remember, because I can’t help but drool all over the Valentino Kaleidscope Stone Tote.

If the old adage that bad things come in threes is to be believed, then there is one more terrible Valentino bag out there that’s I’m going to have to hate on before the brand returns to it’s normally fabulous self. First, a few days ago, there was the Valentino Petale Satchel, which was too squished and not the right color.

I like to laugh. But for obvious reasons, laughing at a bag it not usually a good sign. Nor is the flurry of mental activity that accompanies the single thought, “What was she thinking?” This is pretty much what went though my head when I saw the Valentino Bow Shopping Tote. Now I admit, I once succumbed to a patent leather bag in order to emulate Lilly from the kid’s book Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse (maybe this is why I’m into bags?).

It pains me to write this since I normally adore Valentino bags, particularly those that play on their ever-popular rose theme. But, as far as the Valentino Petale Satchel goes, I just can’t get on board.

A lot of their bags are ruffly and fluffy and plush in a way that few other designers are able to execute with any level of skill at all, but this one is just sort of flat.

One thing that I really respect about the bag designers at Valentino is that not only do they know their theme (flowers), but they seem to try everything they can to work their theme in as many ways as possible. They’re one of very few large, well-known design houses that continue to put out things that are actually interesting to look at instead of just bags that will appeal to huge numbers of people and sell a lot of units.

Say what you want about the ideas behind Valentino‘s designs – love them or hate them, I can almost always look at a new bag and know immediately if it’s one of theirs. They have an over-the-top, textured aesthetic that is more or less all their own in today’s handbag market, which says a great deal about the creative team that is designing and producing their purses.

All of the sporadic posting time and lack of updates is because of this little thing we are planning, that I like to call our wedding. I assured myself that I was not going to be overwhelmed by my wedding and that it could be a breeze if I wanted it to be. Not that that is a complete lie, but it is tremendously harder than I imagined.