What part of Valentino’s extraordinary 45th anniversary party will people talk about most? Dante Ferretti’s recreation of the Temple of Venus and Rome, with the Colosseum right in front of you? The feeling that you were seeing 30 years of W magazine come alive? The fact that everything was glamorous and extremely classy yet relaxed? The exhibition at the Museum of Ara Pacis? The moment at the museum when Valentino took Karl Lagerfeld’s hand and walked him around to some of the displays? The Chinese-themed tent near the Villa Borghese that was built just for Saturday’s black-tie dinner, and will be torn down tomorrow? The $10 million-plus price-tag for the weekend?
I couldn’t say. It was all pretty amazing. Each experience offered something different. But for me, the highlight of Valentino’s 45th was his fall haute couture show. It was far and away the best Valentino show I’ve seen, and really a standout among couture collections. It was held in two long, adjoining halls. Down the entire length of both walls, hanging three deep, were black-and-white photographs of Valentino’s fashion. The runway was done in a glossy, black-and-white tile pattern. The suits that opened the show were pure Valentino, as if he knew this was a strength and wanted now to refine and modernize it. The suits were small and trim-fitting, the Valentino ideal, but with details like chinchilla pockets or a black wool jacket with a bouillonne of black tulle at the waist. It’s easy to talk about the new wealth that is ostensibly available to haute couture, but where is the informed sensibility that serves as much as a guide as a counterweight?
Another design by Valentino Garavani. (Victor Sokolowicz/Bloomberg News)
The cocktail and evening clothes were fantastic. Toward the end of the dinner last night, they ran a clip from the documentary that Matt Tynauer, a Vanity Fair editor, has been working on for a couple of years and will finish this fall. It showed Valentino preparing a collection with his atelier, and the level of care. Well, you saw that in the show. My favorite dresses were a pewter lame gown with sheer, embroidered straps and a swag of lame over each shoulder; one in black satin with a tiny bolero of embroidered smoky tulle, and another that was embroidered entirely in emerald-green ostrich feathers and worn with a matching duchess satin coat.
Lagerfeld stayed for both days. That seemed to surprise a lot of people. He and Valentino first met, 52 years ago, when they were young assistants in Paris. At the fashion show, Lagerfeld sat next to Princess Caroline. I was sitting across from Diane Von Furstenberg, Zac Posen, Manolo Blahnik, Tom Ford, Donatella Versace, Giorgio Armani and Carolina Herrera. When Valentino came down the runway, he stopped in front of the other designers and did a little bow. When he came back up the runway, he had tears in his eyes. I don’t know if this collection summed up 45 years, but I do know that I had witnessed something special.
I couldn’t say. It was all pretty amazing. Each experience offered something different. But for me, the highlight of Valentino’s 45th was his fall haute couture show. It was far and away the best Valentino show I’ve seen, and really a standout among couture collections. It was held in two long, adjoining halls. Down the entire length of both walls, hanging three deep, were black-and-white photographs of Valentino’s fashion. The runway was done in a glossy, black-and-white tile pattern. The suits that opened the show were pure Valentino, as if he knew this was a strength and wanted now to refine and modernize it. The suits were small and trim-fitting, the Valentino ideal, but with details like chinchilla pockets or a black wool jacket with a bouillonne of black tulle at the waist. It’s easy to talk about the new wealth that is ostensibly available to haute couture, but where is the informed sensibility that serves as much as a guide as a counterweight?
Another design by Valentino Garavani. (Victor Sokolowicz/Bloomberg News)
The cocktail and evening clothes were fantastic. Toward the end of the dinner last night, they ran a clip from the documentary that Matt Tynauer, a Vanity Fair editor, has been working on for a couple of years and will finish this fall. It showed Valentino preparing a collection with his atelier, and the level of care. Well, you saw that in the show. My favorite dresses were a pewter lame gown with sheer, embroidered straps and a swag of lame over each shoulder; one in black satin with a tiny bolero of embroidered smoky tulle, and another that was embroidered entirely in emerald-green ostrich feathers and worn with a matching duchess satin coat.
Lagerfeld stayed for both days. That seemed to surprise a lot of people. He and Valentino first met, 52 years ago, when they were young assistants in Paris. At the fashion show, Lagerfeld sat next to Princess Caroline. I was sitting across from Diane Von Furstenberg, Zac Posen, Manolo Blahnik, Tom Ford, Donatella Versace, Giorgio Armani and Carolina Herrera. When Valentino came down the runway, he stopped in front of the other designers and did a little bow. When he came back up the runway, he had tears in his eyes. I don’t know if this collection summed up 45 years, but I do know that I had witnessed something special.
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