Valentino: Bridal and Beyond
By Eric Wilson
NEW YORK — Two years into the marriage of Valentino and Marzotto SpA, the designer has finally stopped having cold feet about selling his bridal designs to the general public.
Valentino might be known as the designer of wedding gowns for several famous or privileged clients — Jennifer Lopez (for her brief marriage to Chris Judd), French actress Clotilde Courau to Prince Emanuele Filiberto, Jackie Kennedy to Aristotle Onassis — but he has resisted selling bridal at retail throughout his career, until now. The designer created three styles, which debuted in his New York flagship this month, as his introduction into the wedding market.
“We want to manage, monitor and execute this in the proper way, but going into weddings is a natural for Valentino,” said Graziano de Boni, president and chief executive officer of Valentino Inc. and Marzotto USA, the American arm of the Marzotto operations. “It’s a given.”
Expanding Valentino’s offerings, from bringing the high-end couture collection to the U.S. to the introduction of a new diffusion collection last year, has been as much of a priority of Marzotto management since acquiring the company in May 2002 as improving the quality of the designer’s retail distribution and mending relationships with its biggest specialty store customers. In an interview at his office here last week, de Boni outlined several initiatives planned for Valentino that underscore its recent turnaround in the U.S., including the bridal line and creating exclusive product for retailers.
For example, Bergdorf Goodman, which opened a renovated 700-square-foot Valentino in-store shop last month, and Neiman Marcus will exclusively carry a zebra-print pony skin handbag with black crocodile handles and lining from the fall ready-to-wear collection that was based on a bag from Valentino’s January couture show. Another all-croc version of the bag, in Valentino’s signature red, is being designed for Bergdorf’s Christmas catalogue.
Also, after several successful private couture events in New York and Palm Beach, Fla., in recent seasons, the accessories used in the designer’s recent couture shows, including bags priced from $1,500 to $20,000, will be featured at Valentino’s New York and Los Angeles stores in the coming weeks.
photos & extracts from a wwd article
Liz ..my her head is sooo huge 
but I guess one's gotta be pretty tall for it to look good...
