VALENTINOHHH! - Brief Article

Interview, Dec, 2000 by Brad Goldfarb

FORTY YEARS IN FASHION AND TRICKS STILL UP HIS SLEEVE

In a business known as much for the toll it exacts as the glamour it projects, the fact that one of fashion's biggest names-Valentino--has stayed not just in the game, but at the top of it (witness his recent collection in Paris this fall) for forty years now, is cause for both celebration as well as genuine respect. How has the Roman designer done it? Not by following trends or mimicking what other designers are doing, but by staying true to his own voice, one marked consistently by craft, quality, grace, and that certain Valentino va-va-va-voom.

These are characteristics that have won Valentino a loyal following among all sorts of women, from famous to not. Say the name Valentino and you're as likely to call up an image of the designer strolling through Capri with Jackie Onassis or sunning on his yacht with Elizabeth Taylor as you are one of his signature red chiffon evening numbers. When asked what she liked about the clothes, longtime Valentino pal and client Joan Collins talked about the attention to detail, and the fact that the inside seams of a Valentino jacket were just as good as the outside--surprising to anyone who might be inclined to confuse the actress with her onetime role of Alexis Carrington on television's Dynasty (a character for whom surface was everything). Collins went on to tell us how she and the designer first became acquainted: "I met Valentino in Rome in the late 1960s. I had heard about him because he was quite well known for doing clothes for Jackie Onassis and Elizabeth Taylor and Sophia Loren. So I went to see him and borrowed a beautiful embroidered jacket for an awards show I was doing. We hit it off--I think we had lunch together--and throughout the years I've been to his shows, worn his designs, had him create clothes for my movies and been to visit him at his homes in Wildeville and Gstaad. Apart from being very attractive, he's a very nice man, never boring, and he loves to gossip." We also asked Collins how many Valentino designs she owned-a figure she couldn't name. I'm not into counting my outfits," she told us, laughing.

Anjelica Huston is another longtime client and friend of the designer. She described wearing a Valentino creation in the following way: "It's like getting a great haircut. His clothes might look like a whisper but they're so carefully thought out and constructed they can hide a myriad of ills. What he does is magic."