Valentino- institution, right? The The name shrieked by aging matrons with nasal voices when the valet gets their unmanicured mitts too close to the skirtage. I think Valentino is a little bit aging, but maybe thats just me. Just this week Jessica Biel worked some Valentino and looked a lot under 90 years old. I think removing the lining from it is probably a good start to bringing it a frisky young Courtney Love-esque audience.
Now I love pockets, but maybe they aren’t always a good thing- especially when they create weird optical illusions:
This I like.
Maybe this too.
This one makes me think of the Loretta Lynn museum. She needs bigger hair:
This is my favorite. I like the very simple lines with the embellishments. 
Photo credits: Style.com
Pretty Grievances 
Valentino…class will always be class. Just love 1 and 2…of course, too sheer..but fixable, how romantic…old fashioned but fresh. I do love the red, but have seen too many like it on the “red carpet”. My favorite is the gray w/great black bow…I would so love that;… hey, we aging matrons crave a good basic gray!!! No explanation for the Loretta Lynn number…Also appreciate the detail and look of the last one.
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Pockets in an evening dress? Call me old-fashioned but my staff carry everything I need. I’m not a big fan of round necklines so I’d have to get the scissors out on all of them – and line them! No 6 is good but a wee bit like brown paper?
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A well trained staff is never out of fashion! The last one does almost rustle when you see it doesn’t it? The model gets extra points for not wrinkling the craft paper.
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I don’t understand why designers send shear clothes down the runway, the celebrities who end up wearing the dresses always make them add a lining anyways. The red dress is pretty though
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There is a thesis topic in there somewhere- why design the impractical?
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I liked the red one until I hit the hem and the extra ruffle went all Laura Ingals Wilder on me. I think the grey dress is my favourite, I’d wear that.
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Prairie couture makes it’s unpleasant return!
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Personally, I can live without seeing anyone in the sheer dresses, thankyouverymuch. And the hands in the “pockets” one is just too creepy. The red one is kind of pretty, but makes me think an awful lot of “little house on the prairie”. 😉 I would absolutely wear the silvery one though. Agreed on the Loretta Lynn one, and the last one could probably be found easily in the Sheplers catalog for significantly less–and you could pick up matching cowboy boots while you’re there. 😉 However, it does look like it would be fairly easy to knock off if you had a mind to. The embellishments might be more tricky, but I bet you could do it. 🙂
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The last one does sort of lend itself to the outback , fdoesn’t it? Safari formal.
I always wonder if I should post the sheer ones- I’d hate for someone to get offended when it isn’t even my work!
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I like the red one and the gray one right beneath it, but only with a lining. The others are “almost, but not quite.” I just look at them and think what I would change. And I can’t figure out the pockets — they’re made out of netting like the dress? How bizarre. If you put a lining under that, I think the pockets would stand out and not in a good way.
Valentino is big because of name recognition. They can send anything down the runway and people will buy it because hey! Valentino!
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Ok, thats just a new hurdle. If you put your keys or expensive jewelry in the mesh pockets then you can wrestle to get your hand free. Excellent red carpet pictures!
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Photo’s 1 and 2 looks like ‘someone forgot to read the pattern sheet – lining! What lining???’ We all try to wing the pattern reading part at some stage and come unstuck (we just don’t admit to it). The rest look like Cinderella rejects in the rags to riches hall of fame…just goes to show I am no fashion expert!!! Maybe I am just intimidated by the famous Valentino ‘Red’ as no one does ‘red’ like Valentino…
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Lining is for sissies!
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Is Valentino still creating the designs bearing his name? I have always loved Valentino and have found his clothes appealing to all ages but the ones above do not resemble his signature apparel….. something is amiss here.
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Hang on. Pockets. To put stuff in? Really? Oh, just for show. Hang on a minute, I wanna put coins in and see what happens. Please? Can I? Can I?
The silver one is pretty though …. agreed on that.
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I think any change in these pockets will look like an airport x-ray!
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Seems strange coming from Valentino. Who wears that sheer stuff, anyway?
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There is a huge difference between Valentino and the duo paid to design at his house nowadays. Keep the newbies and give me the real deal. I’ve seen almost nothing from the Valentino label since he retired that has knocked my socks off. Ugh.
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