Valentino Garavani - Celebration of 45 Years of Valentino

Celebration of 45 Years of Valentino

In celebration of the 45th anniversary of Valentino's career, a fashion extravaganza took place in Rome between July 6 and 8 in 2007. Festivities started on Thursday, July 5, with a dinner for Valentino's assistants and employees at Ristorante Gusto, and ended on Sunday, July 8, with the launch of a perfume and a brunch at the French Academy of Villa Medici.

The five exclusive golden invitation cards were sent from the Valentino headquarters for the weekend's main events:

• July 6, 2007 at 7:30 pm: Inauguration of the exhibit "Valentino in Rome, 45 years of style," designed by Patrick Kinmonth and Antonio Monfreda at the ancient sacrificial altar Ara Pacis and showcasing Valentino's most important creations from the past 45 years. Valentino went through his archives and his clients' closets to narrow down his choices to about 300.
• July 6, 2007: Post-exhibit gala dinner at the Temple of Venus in the Imperial Forum. Dating back to 135 A.D. and dedicated to Emperor Hadrian, the forum had never been opened to any event. Oscar-winning designer Dante Ferretti (The Aviator, Gangs of New York, The Age of Innocence) re-created the monument's long-lost columns in fibre glass, a special procedure known as Anastilosys. Valerio Festi designed a spectacular performance by high-wire ballerinas (costumed in exaggerated versions of the designer's ball gowns or signature lipstick-red evening dresses), with the Coliseum bathed in red and mauve light as a breathtaking backdrop. The plexigas structure remained for the summer for tourists to enjoy. Culture Minister Francesco Rutelli also revealed that Valentino contributed to the restoration of the Temple with a donation of 200,000 euros.
• July 7, 2007, at 5.00 pm: Fashion show for 1,000 people. For the first time after 16 years, Valentino's haute couture fashion show will not take place in Paris during the HC fashion week, but in Rome. Socialite and long-time Valentino fan Marina Palma took over the fashionable Bolognese restaurant for a tribute lunch before the international guests set off for the designer's bravura couture runway show.

The fashion setting was two halls called Sala Incisa and Sala Baglivi of the restructured 16th-century Santo Spirito in Sassia complex, located next to Castel Sant'Angelo and the Vatican. Valentino showed about 61 couture dresses, a record number considering that an HC show never shows more than 40 gowns. The collection referenced many of the leitmotifs revealed in the retrospective at Ara Pacis and was a tour de force of the flawless and unmatchable techniques that Valentino's brilliant workrooms. The music segued from Mahler's Fifth to a hauntingly beautiful rendition of Puccini's "O mio babbino caro" as Valentino took his bow.

Fellow designers who attended—including Karl Lagerfeld, Giorgio Armani, Donatella Versace, Tom Ford, Diane von Fürstenberg, Carolina Herrera, Zac Posen, Manolo Blahnik, and Philip Treacy, among others, led the standing ovation, which drew tears from the habitually unflappable designer, who embraced Giancarlo Giammetti on the runway.

• The post-show gala dinner and ball took place in the Parco dei Daini at the Villa Borghese. Dante Ferretti had created a Brighton Pavilion-inspired tent, with palm-tree columns and red, black, and mirrored walls, in the gardens. Guests included Princess Caroline of Monaco, Anna Wintour, former Persian Empress Farah Diba, Jacqueline de Ribes, Elton John, Karl Lagerfeld, Marie-Chantal, Crown Princess of Greece, Princess Rosario of Bulgaria, Princess Firyal of Jordan, Roman Mayor Walter Veltroni, as well as Allison Sarofim in a coral-beaded 1960s Valentino, Eugenie Niarchos and Phivos Istavrioglou, heir and socialite from Greece. Movie stars in attendance included Uma Thurman, Anne Hathaway, Elizabeth Hurley, Sarah Jessica Parker, Joan Collins, Sienna Miller, Michael Caine, Jennifer Hudson, and Eva Mendes. Singer Annie Lennox held a surprise concert.