DESIGNERS : Valentino: a Cinch in the Pinch
You can never be too thin or too rich. Except maybe now. This week, as Paris-based designer Valentino Garavani swept through Beverly Hills in a blaze of invitations for parties at Spago and l’Orangerie, the Bistro Garden and his own new boutique at Two Rodeo Drive, he wondered.
“Some say it’s not chic to spend right now,†he began. “Others just feel cautious. There is a financial crisis all around the world.â€
Even his wealthy customers, including Southern Californians Nancy Reagan, Betsy Bloomingdale and the Barbaras--Davis and Sinatra--are curbing their clothing appetite. “Instead of four they buy three, instead of two they buy one,†he said.
Having built his $700-million business on more than sheer luck , he has come up with his solution to the financial crunch. A full one-third of his stunningly spacious boutique (12,000-plus square feet at the luxury mall where street level rents like his go for $75 to $225 per square foot) features the lower-priced Oliver line, named for Valentino’s pug dog.
He refers to his $600 Oliver suits as, “very, very, very cheap,†which they are, in comparison to his signature collection with it’s low ticket of about twice that price.
Along with red plaid Oliver jackets and skirts, there are bold, yellow duffle coats over black-and-white plaid shorts, and cable-stitch minis with matching tunics in this season’s young spirited line, available only at the Rodeo Drive shop. There is menswear too, including quilted bomber jackets, denim work shirts and cobalt-blue cardigans.
These days in Paris, Rome, New York, Tokyo and Los Angeles, women want the same two Valentino items, he said: “A nice little Oliver suit, and a cocktail dress that looks like the money it cost.†Prices for the dresses range to about $12,000.
Despite tighter world finances, his spring collection is inspired by the ‘60s socialite Babe Paley, who scored a place in history with her Marie Antoinette-like remark about being too thin and too rich. Babe dresses have jewel necklines and short skirts, or short boxy tops over miniskirts, in pastel colors to wear with matching jackets.
Valentino said his own attitude about personal fortune has not really changed. “Will I start to take a low profile? Perhaps. I’m going with the times. If next year is one of restrictions on travel along the Mediterranean, I may not be there on my yacht.â€
