Valentino has an enviable thing: a bag line so beloved that it doesn’t have to reinvent the wheel every season. For Resort 2017, though, the brand charts the most new bag territory we’ve seen from it in a while, clearly in search of a way forward from the Rockstud staples that have sustained it for years. Not only does that mean new bag shapes with an updated feel, but it means bag charms, apparently. Lots of them. Lots of parrots. And yet, like most other things Valentino does, it all works pretty well.
Instead of picking a new aesthetic theme for the collection, Valentino mostly remixes the African and American Indian themes it has explored in the recent past, with a heavy dose of the American West in the form of tooled leather and the return of the turquoise-dotted Rolling Rockstud. The familiar themes play out on some new shapes, most notable in the form of squared, structured shoulder bags on long straps. They’re not quite saddle bags, not quite Chanel-style chain flap bags, but somewhere in between.
Valentino has a tendency to be playful with its bags, and for resort, that comes through in the addition of numerous tropical-themed bag charms, which extend the collection’s feeling of newness beyond the previous seasons’ themes. They’re pretty cute, even if it feels a tad late to be getting into the bag charm game. Check out the collection below and judge for yourself.
[Photos via Vogue Runway]
