Alessandro Michele continues to make his mark at Valentino. A year in and three runway shows later, Michele has made it clear that his Valentino is bigger and bolder than ever.
Still, despite his bold choices and extravagant embellishments, Michele pays attention to Valentino’s incredible heritage, tapping into the brand’s early ethos. He designs with the notion that women want to dress up to feel beautiful, bringing back the unabashedly feminine bows, florals, lace, and embroideries of the brand’s earliest days.
For Resort 2026, which debuted this week in lookbook format, Michele paid homage to Valentino Garavani from the jump. Look one features a ruched mini-dress in bold Valentino red, directly referencing the archives.
Elsewhere, there are hints of classic Valentino with the juxtaposition of Michele’s edge—think lace tights, embroideries, feminine bows galore, show-stopping sequins, and more, staggered across a whopping 132 looks. Models are shown lounging on a pink silk duvet—this is the dreamy maximalist world of Alessandro Michele’s Valentino.
The Bags of Valentino Resort 2026
As for the bags, this collection solidifies that new house classics like the Nellcôte, Viva Superstar, and Vain bags are here to stay, appearing in new iterations. The Nellcôte is back in its most classic form alongside a butterfly-emblazoned version, while the Viva Superstar and Vain are dressed in bold exotics. Other new bags, like chevron totes and hobos, are a continuation from Spring.
View bags from the runway below.
Looks more like a nightmare than a dream.
Definitely a nightmare
I absolutely adore the clothes, but the bags…I don’t understand what went wrong. they are downright ugly in my opinion. I do like the weird cat though. It’s so weird, because his gucci leather goods were so good.
A lot of these look like repeats from somewhere else. I like I think 1 💼
Wait. why do these bags look so dated? I thought I was looking at the remnants of someone’s closet cleanout…these designs are a joke.
This makes me sad. Looks like someone raided a thrift store in search for a costume for a bad taste seventies theme party. Too much of everything. Nothing’s left of the sophistication of Valentino Garavani and PPP. Where’s the respect for Valentino’s signature clear lines and calm but bold colours? The smart tailoring? The perfect mix of power dressing and celebration of feminine shapes? This is just stressful to look at! I hope someone else takes over soon.
I have loved Valentino since I can’t remember and I am old enough to have followed Mr. Garavani through many decades.
This new designer has already ruined the brand. The tacky, loud, busy designs have nothing in common with the elegant Valentino!
I have not bought a thing from them since his debut. I will treasure what I have until a better designer comes along. Because it will, he doesn’t represent the house.
This is one of my favorite designers and I love most of the bags. I am not a fan of the weird cat.
I have 24 Gucci bags that he has designed when he was there.
I dislike the big aged gold V emblem on everything and miss the rock stud. These bags all look used and tired… maybe because vintage is “in”? But I like my stuff looking new and crisp. And with silver hardware, all of this is not my jam.
Ugh, not a fan of any really. Keep watching, took AM a minute to get going at Gucci, hopefully we see better soon. AM gets OTT with a lot but usually manages to get some really creative wonderful things as well.
I like the tote with stud strap
Some of these read bohemian a la Isabel Marant/Chloe. None of it says Valentino. This is bad.
Not likely to be added to my handbag collection,I will take a look at the collection. They may look expensive and elegant in person but they do look thrift store quality in the advertising.