Can Valentino Make These Bags 'It'?
They certainly have the marketing might.
On December 4, I received an email from Valentino’s PR team asking if we could “collaborate” on publicizing their new bags — the 9to5, Viva Superstar, and Vain — for the holiday season. The bags are notably casual and logo-blaring:
The 9to5 costs $3,950 for canvas and $4,100 for leather; the Viva Superstar starts at $2,850 for a small version and goes up to $3,690 for a large “shopper” size; and the Vain starts at $4,490 for calfskin and goes up to $7,290 for tejus leather (which imitates snakeskin) and $8,690 for an embroidered version.
I recognized the bags from Creative Director Alessandro Michele’s recent collections, in which models sometimes carried two at a time. I tallied up the bag appearances in the brand’s most recent runway show, which featured the 9to5 three times, the Viva Superstar six times, and the Vain — the dressiest, most expensive bag — 28 times, judging by the photos (bags were hard to decipher in a few of the images on Vogue Runway, but these figures should be pretty accurate).
A fashion friend told me she had also noticed influencers posting photos of the bags, and assumed the brand had gone on a gifting spree.
A targeted marketing push is afoot!
Fashion brands market products all the time, of course. My inbox is like a commuter train station at rush hour with pitches. All kinds of brands and all kinds of products filter through constantly. In recent days alone, I’ve been asked to cover “FlyFrames,” which makes $154 sunglasses with no arms; a $98 White + Warren cashmere eye mask; an embargoed line of skorts at Target; and a “luxury” UFC pendant with a current auction price of $42,500.
The Valentino pitch stood out because of the Michele of it all. Michele is said to have been brought to Valentino, where he replaced wildly talented Pierpaolo Piccioli, to create a thriving accessories business. The brand hasn’t really had “It” accessories since the Rockstud days of the 2010s. Valentino launched its first shoe line in 2010 with pointy metal studs, a motif that spilled over into leather accessories broadly and spawned the entire Rockstud line. In the line’s heyday, the “My Rockstud” bag ended up on the arms of Anne Hathaway, Lady Gaga, and Beyoncé.
In his previous job at Gucci, Michele — also talented and visionary in his own right — created a fervor for fur-lined loafers, regular loafers, belts, sneakers, the “Jackie” bag, and more. Generally, he breathed new life into a logo and brand that hadn’t been as cool or desired in a while.
Michele doesn’t have an easy job with the Valentino bag business. We’re in less of an “It” bag moment than an “It” shoe one. This may be in part because luxury prices have ballooned horribly, and a $1,200 shoe is more accessible than a $4,000 bag. Also, the Valentino logo doesn’t have the same history or streetwear cred of brands like Gucci or Louis Vuitton. Dapper Dan wasn’t known for making clothes with the Valentino logo. As evidenced by collections including T-shirts, sweatshirts, and baseball caps with variations of the Valentino logo, Michele is trying to casualize the range and make its logo matter. This is a challenge for a 65-year-old brand rooted in eveningwear, but also a necessary shift long past the days when women bought gowns for parties and skirt suits for luncheons.
I asked the Valentino PR team if they would tell me more about these particular bags and the marketing strategy behind them. They asked what I’d like to know, and I sent a list of specific questions about how they’re working with influencers and why these bags, but never received a response. I can only suspect that the design has something to do with not only margins and wearability, but also getting the logo out there.
But the big question is: Can Valentino — or any brand — force its own “It” bags through savvy marketing? In addition to fashion influencers, Jennifer Lopez has been publicized with the Viva Superstar. I asked Rufina, former marketing executive who writes the excellent
here on Substack, which covers influencer culture and sales tactics, if Valentino could vault its bags to “It” status with marketing alone. She wrote in an email:I think whether Valentino can “force” this bag to become an “It” bag really depends on how closely they follow the FTC’s advertising rules. If every post is clearly marked as an ad, it’s much harder to create the kind of organic buzz that makes a product feel desirable. But from the looks of what’s already starting to flood Instagram, it appears to be a gifted bag with no disclaimer — and that’s exactly where the real power of these campaigns lies.
That’s when, yes, you can “force” something into being a trend. The truth is, if everyone followed the rules, people would probably buy a lot less of what’s being pushed online. What makes these products so covetable is trust. People are outsourcing their taste, relying on others to tell them what’s worth wanting, which blurs the line between authentic endorsement and advertising.
FTC rules state that when influencers post about items they were gifted, they are required to disclose that the items are gifts. However, this feels like the exception rather than the rule. Many influencers are probably unaware of this and don’t do it. Some may be posting about the bags in hopes of doing business with Valentino. I can’t knock the hustle — content is a tough business, people should earn money for their work, and life is expensive.
Plus, it’s not like the FTC is going to come after a fashion influencer for not disclosing the bag was gifted. If a mega-influencer like Kim Kardashian made a habit of it, sure, they might crack down to make an example of her as they have in the past.
The new bags have also received positive coverage in traditional outlets like Gotham, Paris Select Book, and 10 magazine, which again may have to do with supporting or seeking advertising. And then there’s the wild world of video product reviews that brands can’t control that are all over Instagram and TikTok, where favorable coverage is hardly guaranteed.
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But there is something to be said for bags that are just “the moment.” The Row doesn’t do the same sort of marketing push as Valentino, but has had great success with its Margaux style. Alaïa, which consistently sends me releases, has a great accessories line right now, including those studded flats that were everywhere, and a variety of great-looking bags, notably the Le Teckel clutch that starts at $2,350 and has sold well enough to qualify as an “It” bag.
I’ll be curious to see if Valentino can insert its bags into the zeitgeist. Anyone buying?
Earlier in Back Row
Amy, I can’t stop getting ads for this bag now, and I’ll never look at one without thinking of you! If I could have chosen any bag to remember you by, this wouldn’t be it :)
I find these bags unbelievably boring to look at. The kind of boring where you forget what you saw two seconds after you saw it. I starting writing this, realized I already didn't remember what they looked like and had to stop writing to go back and look. Yup, completely unmemorable. But that has sort of been the era we have been in for a while, right? Bland, neutrals, everyone just sort of blending into each other? The 'Mocha Mousse' era; the super expensive black-clothes-that-all-look-the-same-on era? At least for me, I can never imagine spending so much money on a bag, or any item, that is just going to blend into the background. Something completely lacking in any originality or interesting quality. A large 'V' is not interesting; it's just a letter.