It’s rare that I find myself completely conflicted, but that’s where the Valentino Ricamo Macro Paillettes Tote has me. Sometimes I love it, other times I’m not impressed by it at all. Would it be fair to give it the benefit of the doubt just because it’s Valentino?
I hate to say it, but…maybe? Of any handbag designer that I can think of off the top of my head, more than anyone else, the folks at Valentino have earned a little suspension of disbelief from their customers. They make weird, fantastical, intricate bags that few others would have the vision or skill to create, and perhaps we owe them some latitude as a result.
But then again, it still sort of looks like those cheap, shapeless paillette-covered totes that were popular a couple years back with both elderly women and style-challenged teenagers alike. This particular bag has more subtle details because of the subtle size graduation of the black and white paillettes, but is that enough to make it significantly different (and significantly better) than the similar bags that we’ve seen before? I’m not sure, but I do know that I keep coming back to it, which probably means something. Buy through Bergdorf Goodman for $2395.
