Partner Giancarlo Giammetti,
Carlos de Souza, Bruce Hoeksema
Queer Places:
École des Beaux-Arts, 14 Rue Bonaparte, 75006 Paris
Via dei Condotti, 11, 00187 Roma RM
Café de Paris, Via Vittorio Veneto, 102, 00187 Roma RM
Hippopotamus club, R. Barão da Torre, 368 - Ipanema, Rio de Janeiro - RJ, 22421-030, Brazil
Accademia Valentino, Via della Rondinella, 2, 00186 Roma RM
Via Erode Attico, 00178 Roma RM
19 Holland Park, London W11 3TD, UK
Palazzo Gabrielli-Mignanelli, Piazza Mignanelli, 21, 00187 Roma RM
The Pierre, 2 E 61st St, New York, NY 10065
Château de Wideville, 78121 Crespières, France
Chalet Gifferhorn, Büdemliweg 7, 3780 Gstaad
Villa La Vagnola, Piazza Giuseppe Garibaldi, 40, 53040 Cetona SI
67 Quai d'Orsay, 75007 Paris, France
26 Upper Brook St, London W1K 7QE, UK
Valentino Clemente Ludovico Garavani (born 11 May 1932), known mononymously as Valentino, is an Italian fashion designer, the founder of the Valentino brand and company. His main lines include Valentino, Valentino Garavani, Valentino Roma, and R.E.D. Valentino. Valentino and
Giancarlo Giammetti's lifestyle has been considered flamboyant. John Fairchild, editor-at-large at Women's Wear Daily and W, told Vanity Fair,
Valentino and Giancarlo are the kings of high living. Every other designer looks and says, "How do they live the way they do?" I don't think they made the money that Valentino and Giancarlo did, because Giancarlo knows how to make money. If they did, they didn't spend the money like Valentino. No other designer ever did. When the terrorism first started in Rome – the period when the Red Brigades were kidnapping people – Valentino was riding around in a bulletproof Mercedes. And do you know what color the Mercedes was? Red. My God, I thought, you must want to get blown up.[114]
Valentino was born in Voghera, in the Italian province of Pavia. His mother named him after screen idol
Rudolph Valentino.[2] He became interested in fashion while in primary school in his native Voghera, when he apprenticed under his aunt Rosa and local designer Ernestina Salvadeo, an aunt of noted artist Aldo Giorgini. Valentino then moved to Paris to pursue this interest with the help of his mother Teresa de Biaggi and his father Mauro Garavani. There he studied at the École des Beaux-Arts and at the Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne.[3]
His first choice for an apprenticeship, in Paris, was
Jacques Fath, then
Cristóbal Balenciaga. He found an apprenticeship with
Jean Dessès where he helped Countess Jacqueline de Ribes sketch her dress ideas. He then joined Guy Laroche for two years.
After five years, Valentino left Jean Dessès over an incident about prolonging a vacation in Saint-Tropez that still makes him uncomfortable today. Rescued by his friend Laroche, he joined his "tiny, tiny" fashion house. After discussions with his parents, he decided to return to Italy and set up in Rome in 1959, as pupil of Emilio Schuberth and then collaborated with Vincenzo Ferdinandi's atelier before opening his own fashion house.
In 1960 Valentino left Paris and opened a fashion house in Rome on the posh Via Condotti with the backing of his father and an associate of his. More than an atelier, the premises resembled a real "maison de haute couture". Everything was very grand and models flew in from Paris for his first show. Valentino became known for his red dresses, in the bright shade that became known in the fashion industry as "Valentino red".
On 31 July 1960, Valentino met Giancarlo Giammetti at the Café de Paris on the Via Veneto in Rome. One of three children, Giammetti was in his second year of architecture school, living at home with his parents in the haut bourgeois Parioli section of Northern Rome. That day Giammetti gave Valentino a lift home in his Fiat and a friendship, as well as a long-lasting partnership, started. The day after, Giammetti was to leave for Capri for vacation and, by coincidence, Valentino was also going there, so they met again on the island 10 days later. Giammetti would shortly thereafter abandon the University to become Valentino's business and life partner. When Giammetti arrived, the business situation of Valentino's atelier was in fact not brilliant: in one year he had spent so much money that his father's associate pulled out of the business, and had to fight against bankruptcy.[4]
In the film Valentino: The Last Emperor, Valentino and Giancarlo Giammetti discuss how they met in Via Veneto, the epicenter of Rome's Dolce Vita. They have been together ever since, for more than 50 years,[107] although their love relationship ended in 1972. As told by Giancarlo in his private memoirs, in 1973 Valentino met nineteen-year-old Carlos
de Souza at the Hippopotamus club in Rio de Janeiro, dating him until Carlos married Brazilian socialite Charlene Shorto in 1983. Valentino and Giancarlo later became the godfathers of Charlene and Carlos' sons, Sean and Anthony. Carlos and Charlene worked as PR for the Maison Valentino even after their divorce in 1990, and have kept a close relationship ever since.
Valentino's international debut took place in 1962 in Florence, the Italian fashion capital of the time.[3]
At some point in 1964, Jacqueline Kennedy had seen Gloria Schiff, the twin sister of the Rome-based fashion editor of American Vogue and Valentino's friend Consuelo Crespi, wearing a two-piece ensemble in black organza at a gathering. It made such an impression that Kennedy contacted Ms. Schiff to learn the name of the ensemble's designer, which was Valentino. In September 1964, Valentino was to be in the United States to present a collection of his work at a charity ball at New York's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. Mrs. Kennedy wanted to view the collection but could not attend the event, so Valentino decided to send a model, sales representative and a selection of key pieces from his collection to Mrs. Kennedy's apartment on Fifth Avenue. Mrs. Kennedy ordered six of his haute couture dresses, all in black and white, and wore them during her year of mourning following President John F. Kennedy's assassination. From then on, she was a devoted client and would become a friend. Valentino would later design the white Valentino Gown worn by Kennedy at her wedding to Greek tycoon Aristotle Onassis. In 1966 he moved his shows from Florence to Rome where two years later he produced an all-white collection that became famous for the "V" logo he designed.
Throughout the 1970s, Valentino spent considerable time in New York City, where his presence was embraced by society personalities such as Vogue's editor-in-chief
Diana Vreeland and the art icon
Andy Warhol.
As narrated in "Private" by Giancarlo Giammetti, Valentino in the early 1980s met his current boyfriend
Bruce Hoeksema, who started as a model at Valentino to later become the vice president of the Maison. Giancarlo Giammetti said that he and Valentino together with Carlos, Charlene and Bruce form a real family. Part of this enlarged family called the "tribe" is also composed by Spanish Duchess Nati Abascal, French-Brazilian Princess Georgina Brandolini d'Adda and Valentino PR Daniela Giardina.
1990 marked the opening of the Accademia Valentino, designed by architect Tommaso Ziffer, a cultural space located near Valentino's atelier in Rome, for the presentation of art exhibitions. The next year, encouraged by their friend Elizabeth Taylor, Valentino Garavani and Giancarlo Giammetti created L.I.F.E., an association for the support of AIDS-related patients, which benefits from the activities of the Accademia Valentino.[102]
In 1998 Valentino and his partner Giancarlo Giammetti sold the company for approximately US$300 million to HdP, an Italian conglomerate controlled, in part, by the late Gianni Agnelli, the head of Fiat. In 2002, Valentino S.p.A., with revenues of more than $180 million, was sold by HdP to Marzotto Apparel, a Milan-based textile giant, for $210 million. Maison Valentino is controlled since 2012 by Mayhoola for Investments S.P.C., a holding company sustained by a group of private investors from Qatar. It is present in over 90 countries through 160 Valentino directly operated boutiques and over 1300 points of sale.
On 4 September 2007, Valentino announced that he would retire fully in January 2008[103] from the world stage after his last haute couture show in Paris. He delivered his last women's ready-to-wear show in Paris on 4 October.
His last haute couture show was presented in Paris at the Musée Rodin on 23 January 2008. It was, however, somewhat marred by his criticism of fellow Italian design duo
Dolce &
Gabbana,[104] and the death of Australian actor Heath Ledger, although few allowed these things to detract from his final show, which received a standing ovation from the entire audience that included hundreds of notable names from all areas of show business. Many models returned to attend Valentino's last haute couture show; the audience included Eva Herzigová, Naomi Campbell, Claudia Schiffer, Nadja Auermann, Karolína Kurková and Karen Mulder.[105]
In September 2007, Valentino decided to leave the Creative Direction of his brand. Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli were first nominated Creative Directors of all accessories lines, and the following year, they were appointed Creative Directors of Valentino, guiding all collections, from Prêt-à-Porter to Haute Couture. In June 2015 the Creative Directors were bestowed with the prestigious CFDA International Award, recognition that paid homage to the professional path and to the success of the Maison. On 7 July 2016 Maison Valentino nominated Pierpaolo Piccioli its sole Creative Director of the Maison.
Valentino and his associate Giancarlo Giammetti share homes and apartments around the world including the following:
A villa on the Via Appia Antica, an historical landmark in Rome bought in 1972.[111] The villa is decorated by Renzo Mongiardino and Adrian Magistretti with influences of China, Italy, and France.
A 19th century mansion in Holland Park, London. The centerpiece of this mansion is the grand salon that houses five late Picassos and a small salon with two
Basquiats and one painting by Damien Hirst.[112]
A Penthouse on Fifth Avenue in New York, near the Frick Museum overlooking Central Park decorated by Jacques Grange with paintings by Richard Prince, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, Willem de Kooning and Fernand Léger.
Château de Wideville, a 17th-century castle in the communes of Crespières and Davron near Paris. Château of Wideville was built by Louis XIII's finance minister and later home to one of Louis XIV's mistresses. Valentino acquired the eight-bedroom castle in 1995 and commissioned its restoration to the eminent interior decorator Henri Samuel. The castle comprises 280-acre gardens designed by Wirtz International, a pigeonnier tower, a pavilion containing a shell grotto, a building housing the archives of Valentino Garavani Archives. The chateau stairway is flanked by stone dogs carved in the 17th century by the French artist Jacques Sarazin. Valentino stages always organizes a theme party at the castle during the fashion weeks in Paris.
Chalet Gifferhorn in Gstaad, Switzerland where he spends winter celebrations. The house has paintings of Arcimboldo and the famous sheep-shaped furniture by les Lalanne.
Valentino also spends half of his time in Giancarlo Giammetti's homes:
A 18th-century Villa "La Vagnola" in Cetona, Tuscany which Giancarlo Giammetti purchased in 1986. Renowned Italian decorator Renzo Mongiardino created enchanted interiors inspired by the villa's classical gardens. For twenty-five years Giancarlo Giammetti and Valentino vacationed here to escape the pressures of Rome and their international jet set lifestyle.
Portions of the property date back to the 16th-century but it was in 1750, on the occasion of his marriage to Maria Antonietta Vagnoli, that the nobleman Sallustio Terrosi started building the villa. The villa's decoration includes Empire pieces and Chinese wooden figurines which once adorned the Royal Pavilion at Brighton and Empire settee that belonged to Princess Mathilde, Napoleon's niece,
and 2,100 rare books that Giammetti miraculously returned to the villa, missing since the 1960s. The design of the spare all-white kitchen was given to one of Giammetti's friends, architect Tommaso Ziffer, a young decorator at the time.
The "Sophia Loren" guest room was so named in honor of the room's inaugural guest, richly appointed in Old World style with a lacy ceiling designed by Mongiardino. Paolo Peyrone, a pupil of the English landscape designer Russell Page, assisted with the design of the landscaping around the house. The 18th-century stable, as it was photographed in the 1980s, became an orangery with an upstairs exercise room. The villa has a pool pavilion named "La Turkerie" standing in the middle of the garden, built by the Terrosi-Vagnoli family in 1837 in honor of a visiting pasha.
A Penthouse on the Quai d'Orsay in Paris, decorated by Peter Marino with a collection of modern art including two Andy Warhol Lenin's, one red and one black, Rothko,
Cy Twombly,
Francis Bacon and George Dyer. The furniture includes pieces by
Jean-Michel Frank, les Lalanne,
Eileen Gray, Émile-Jacques Ruhlmann and Ariane Dandois.
An Apartment in Kensington, London.
A Penthouse in New York decorated by designer Jacques Grange and filled with works by Picasso, Cy Twombly,
David Hockney, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Richard Prince, Rachel Feinstein and Mark Rothko painting. The apartment comprises a pair of Tang-dynasty horses, a gilt-bronze crocodile chair by les Lalanne, a sculpture by Anselm Kiefer.
A Penthouse in Via Condotti, Rome
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