Former Fendi bag designers and Valentino accessories team Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pier Paolo Piccioli showed “The Dark Side of First Love,” their fourth couture collection as the head designers for Valentino this week in Paris to mixed reviews.

Appearing in the window of the Valentino boutique on Rodeo Drive in Los Angeles last week was a red T-shirt adorned with a strip of lace at the neck, a bouquet of embroidered silk roses and a $790 price tag.

Who would buy these T-shirts? Perhaps the same lady who has a place in her closet for the holey $1625 Balmain t-shirt, but are $1000+ t-shirts (easily replicated by DIYers at that) really an effective strategy for expanding a brand?

We still have a few days before the pre-Fashion Week festivities kick off, and a few more before the official events start. But last week was exciting for the sheer quality of things we’ve heard, that probably should have been kept quiet. Let’s recap, shall we? The first case of foot in mouth disease: fashion [...]