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The great Roman couturier Valentino Garavani took his final bows at the close of the Paris haute couture season this week flanked by the world's most beautiful women all dressed in identical languid long red dresses.
The much-anticipated swansong collection by the man who has, in his time, dressed the likes of Elizabeth Taylor, Jackie Onassis and Sharon Stone, was, in the end, a relatively low-key affair. But the stars had flown in: Uma Thurman and Lucy Liu were in attendance as were designers Miuccia Prada and Alber Elbaz, the creative director of Lanvin.
"It's a happy collection. It's not a collection with tears in between," Valentino declared of his show, which was slightly larger than usual with 75 exits, and retrospective flourishes punctuating the new.
The perfectly proportioned day suits that Valentino is known and loved for were all present in gorgeous fondant hues. Floral print chiffon, delicately embroidered lace and floor-sweeping silk charmeuse gowns were equally controlled.
Valentino's great gift is to make even the most ornate confection seem as light as the proverbial feather and it makes for extremely beautiful, if somewhat anachronistic, viewing.
For almost half a century Valentino has been a precious commodity where Hollywood and that monied and privileged creature, the couture client, is concerned. He is, with Karl Lagerfeld, couturier at Chanel, the last remaining name old and experienced enough to remember couture's mid-20th century glory days firsthand. At that time, there were tens of thousands of women willing and able to spend undisclosed sums of money on garments created by the world's most accomplished craftspeople entirely by hand.
Today, there are no more than a few hundred, most of them indebted to Valentino for at least part of their wardrobe. Haute couture has become fashion's most extravagant loss leader - a powerful marketing tool and laboratory of ideas.
Valentino is known to be one of the most expensive couturiers - it is considered bad manners in this most rarefied of worlds to reveal exact prices - but that hasn't dented sales which are, by all accounts, healthy as the super-rich strive to separate themselves from a saturated luxury market.
During his long and grand career, the man born Valentino Garavani on May 11, 1932, has dressed everyone who's anyone.
Valentino is credited with the iconic matching tailored day coat, shift dress and sunglasses combination that is now simply referred to as the Jackie O look.
Earlier this month, it was announced that Ferruccio Pozzoni had been named chief designer for menswear at the label Valentino, backed by his father, founded in 1960. Pozzoni will work under the direct supervision of Alessandra Facchinetti, formerly designer of Gucci women's wear and sole creative director of the Valentino brand.
Facchinetti's appointment was made public in September last year, the day after Valentino announced his retirement. It is thought that the older designer had failed to reach an agreement with the powers that be at Permira, the private equity firm that today owns his label, over the terms of renewal of his contract. Valentino told Women's Wear Daily earlier this week that he would still have an office with Giammetti and that he would like to design costumes for ballet and opera.
"I would love to do La Traviata," he said.
"I would love to do something fabulous for the ballet. Certainly I am not the sort of person to sit all day long watching television."
- INDEPENDENT
