Valentino Garavani was claiming his place in the sun.
In Beverly Hills last week to discuss his 45-year run as founder, figurehead and creative visionary behind the $1-billion-plus fashion empire bearing his name — Valentino — the Italian designer resisted a valet’s efforts to move him beneath a rooftop pool cabana at a Beverly Hills hotel, preferring to remain in the hard glare of afternoon sunlight. He looked impeccable in a silk blazer and slacks, his skin self-bronzed to a lustrous cinnamon hue. "I had such an unbelievable fashion life," Valentino said in heavily accented English. "I achieved the maximum. And I stopped at the right moment also."
But asked about his initial reaction to "Valentino: The Last Emperor," the documentary about him that premiered to a string of sold-out engagements at New York’s Film Forum on March 18, the designer recalled the shock — no, dismay — he felt at seeing his personal life laid bare on screen. "I was in my little shoes when I first saw the film," Valentino said, seizing the nearest fashion metaphor — never mind that it doesn’t quite make sense. "I was always a very, very low-profile person."
Chronicling his fashion empire’s final two years culminating in Valentino’s decision to retire in 2007 after a corporate takeover, the film captures a bygone era — a time before conspicuous consumption became anathema, when fashionistas could still be moved to tears by a collection of beautiful gowns rather than, say, global recession.
You see Valentino’s gilded lifestyle: the private jet, yacht travel, butlers and manor homes. Famous faces such as Elton John, Gwyneth Paltrow and Vogue’s Anna Wintour traipse in and out of his opulent parties. And the designer throws a couple of diva-worthy hissy fits.