“I always wanted to make women beautiful,” Valentino Garavani once said. He certainly achieved that goal, dressing everyone from Nan Kemper and Nancy Reagan to Gwyneth Paltrow and Jennifer Lopez in ultra-feminine gowns, often lacy, red, or floral—or all three at once. Born in Rome in the 1930s, Valentino opened his first atelier in 1957 and quickly became high-society’s designer of choice for clothes with Rococo-level grandeur.
Now 93, Valentino retired nearly two decades ago. This past April, Alessandro Michele—formerly of Gucci—was appointed the fifth ever creative director of the brand, bringing a more maximalist, theatrical edge to the maison. That makes the new edition of Taschen’s Valentino: A Grand Italian Epic especially timely. More than just a glossy coffee-table book, it’s a comprehensive account of Valentino, both the man and the brand.
Alongside gorgeous illustrations and photos, there are essays by John Fairchild, Graydon Carter, and Ingrid Sischy, as well as old New York Post articles about Valentino and André Leon Talley’s 1970s WWD dispatches about the designer’s parties. The anchor is an oral history with interviews collected and edited by Matt Tyrnauer (the director of Valentino: The Last Emperor) and journalist Matt Pressman. In an excerpt from it, Valentino’s muses, loyal clients, and fellow designers explain how Valentino changed fashion.
Valentino Garavani and his muses in Wideville gardens, at designer’s French estate.
Karl Lagerfeld, designer: Valentino created his fashion house out of very little. Because, I mean, Roman couture did not have the prestige of Paris couture, but it was not that bad in the ’50s. There were houses that were quite well known, like Carosa, and Simonetta and Forquet—people like this. I don’t even know what happened to them. But Valentino’s dresses were better. He had Paris dressmaking experience, which was very, very important. Because he knew that Italian workrooms have good craftsmanship, but you have to teach them how to do it properly. He gave a little twist to Roman couture, which had been a little dowdy before.
Gloria Schiff, socialite, senior fashion editor, Vogue, 1963–71: I first met Valentino and [the brand’s co-founder] Giancarlo Giammetti, I think, in the late ’50s. Their clothes were really so incredible. You know, everybody in Paris was doing very constructed clothes, like Balenciaga, Givenchy. Everything was shaped and modeled, and tight and constricted. Valentino was the first to do clothes that really enhanced a woman and moved with her—made her look sexy, provocative and alluring. And I think that was his great contribution to fashion.
John Fairchild, former editor and publisher of W and WWD: Valentino makes probably, the most beautiful evening dresses in the world. He’s making clothes that women want to wear, to be well-dressed and feminine. He never strays over the border to the odd. They’re not conservative, but they’re just flattering. With Valentino you would never come out of a collection and say, “Oh, my God! That is really odd and strange, and trashy and this or that.” You’d come out saying, “Oh, my God—those are clothes that women want to wear.”
Carolina Herrera, designer: Valentino is a real designer. All his clothes that you see on the runway you can wear. And fashion is about happy women. Did he influence me when I was starting out? Maybe, yes. Because he doesn’t do anything crazy and his clothes are classic. At one point, Valentino was worn more than any other designer in the world.
Claudia Schiffer in Valentino Spring-Summer 1995.
Donatella Versace, designer: Like all true fashion designers, Valentino has a look, a style, that is all his own. And like all truly great fashion designers, he has stuck to his style over the years, regardless of the changes in trends. This is the mark of a designer who really believes in what he is doing and is passionate about his work—it was true of my brother Gianni and it is certainly true of Valentino.
Of course there have been times when he seemed at odds with street fashion, like during the punk and grunge years, but he always stuck to his guns and weathered the storm. This is what a designer must do—evolve by all means, but respect the DNA you have created. And in the end quality will win out: consider that today, those who have come from street style, whether men or women—like the rap community—when they become successful, they often aspire to wear Valentino.
Oscar de la Renta, designer: There are two different types of designer. There are designers that make a big splash for a couple of seasons; they mark a period of fashion in a very strong way and then disappear. And then there are those that are able to ride the crest and stay on top of it, and who have the staying power and the creativity to go along with the times. Understand what your contribution is, who your consumer is, and keep making beautiful clothes. Which is what he has been doing all along. Valentino has a sense of understanding beauty and understanding femininity. His tremendous consistency through the years always kept him on top.
Stella McCartney, designer: I think that Valentino always makes women look stunning. He doesn’t seem to get it too wrong. I think most designers get it wrong at some stage. But he seems to have a faultless record, really, of just keeping everything at the right – not too much, not too little. But it varies; and he pulls it off every time.
Christy Turlington for Valentino Jeans, Fall-Winter 1995/96.
Gwyneth Paltrow, actress: With a Valentino dress you’re always going to get classic beauty. The man is an absolute master. Of course, there are designers who are, sort of, more conceptual and maybe hipper. But with him you know that you’re always going to look beautiful. No one’s ever going to criticize someone wearing a Valentino dress, unless they’re saying, “Oh, God, she just looks perfect again in Valentino.”
He’s very old-school in his approach. He thinks that a woman should look beautiful in a dress, and that’s the end of the story; that fashion isn’t a place for concept and art. He gets crazy with me if I’m wearing a jacket with an unfinished seam, or the sleeve isn’t in the right proportion. I mean, he goes nuts—it’s hysterical.
Amy Fine Collins, former special correspondent, Vanity Fair: It is nearly as hard to envision fashion without the House of Valentino as it is difficult to picture the Vatican without the Pope. Valentino’s eye leads back to the mythic world of post-war couture and ahead into the future. Across the decades, Valentino and Giammetti have remained true to their belief in feminine glamour, beauty and mystery. They worshipped women even at moments when women did not worship themselves. And while they have stayed absolutely faithful to their ideals and to their friends, at the same time they have continued to embrace fresh ideas, outside influences and new people. This is one secret of their longevity.
Jerry Hall for Vogue Italia wearing Valentino couture Fall-Winter 1975/76.
Valentino: I think I have succeeded because through all these decades I was always concerned about making beautiful clothes. Let’s forget fashion. It goes in other direction sometimes: the grunge look, the messy look. I don’t care; I really don’t care. I cannot see women destroyed, not well combed or looking strange. And make-up—stupid make-up—and dresses that make the body look ridiculous. I am not this kind of gentleman; I am not this kind of creator. I want to make a girl who, when she’s dressed and arrives in some place, people turn and say, “You look so sensational!” This is always what I did, what I really wanted to achieve all the time.
Anjelica Huston, actress: [Wearing Valentino] is like getting a great haircut. His clothes might look like a whisper but they’re so carefully thought out and constructed that they can hide a myriad of ills. What he does is magic.
Claudia Schiffer, model: To be able to wear Valentino is every woman’s or girl’s dream come true. Because they are the most glamorous, feminine and elegant dresses that you can possibly have. You can recognize a Valentino dress from afar. And there’s only one red that only he has and no one can ever copy. It is just amazing—when you wear one of his dresses, someone will immediately say, “You don’t have to say what it is, I know [it’s Valentino].”
Claudia Schiffer in Valentino’s atelier. Rome, 1995.
Nan Kempner, socialite: I first became a client of Valentino’s, I think, the first time he brought his collection to New York. I think I was taken by Babe Paley. That has to have been maybe late ’60s, early ’70s. I remember my first couture dress. It was yellow muslin with panels down the side. God, I wish I still had that dress; it was so pretty. And then there was another one that was white taffeta and all the material came to one side, and tied in a bow. Long-waisted, but fitted. Oh God, that was a pretty dress.
Valentino has a way of dressing a woman that makes her feel like she’s stepped into or out of fairyland. It’s kind of a great feeling—and it attracts the fellas. There’s usually some tricky little cut that nobody notices.
The Valentino number-one hallmark, in my mind, is femininity. Valentino dresses a woman as if he really loves her. And he wants everybody else to love her, too. And he really loves the dress he’s creating and he creates it from the inside out. This is really creation. This is not just taking a bunch of material and slapping it together. And the dresses last forever, because they’re beautifully made, from beautiful materials, wonderful workmanship and extraordinary conception. I mean, there’s no such thing as an old Valentino dress.
Valentino’s Fall-Winter 1968/69 couture collection.
Tom Ford, designer: If I were a woman, I would buy an enormous part of my evening wardrobe at Valentino. Something I admire so much about Valentino is that, no matter what he’s doing, he doesn’t lose sight of a woman’s body. People used to ask me why my clothes were so sexy and why I was obsessed with sex. It wasn’t that I was obsessed with sex. It’s that I’ve always been obsessed with the body and making the body look as beautiful and attractive as it can look. And if you’re using the body as a template, then your clothes are, automatically, sensual.
Valentino knows how to make a dress that looks simple when you’re wearing it, but which actually has a built-in structure and support that makes the wearer feel secure. He never loses sight of the fact that the point of clothes – you know, in our world, because we don’t wear them for protection from the elements—is to enhance and beautify and make the wearer feel more confident and more attractive. That’s not a simple thing; and it’s sort of a dying art.
An excerpt from the book “Valentino: A Grand Italian Epic,” with interviews collected and edited by Matt Tyrnauer and Matt Pressman, published by Taschen.© 2024 TASCHEN.
