“Like all true fashion designers, Valentino has a look, a style, that is all his own,” says Donatella Versace in Taschen’s new book Valentino: A Grand Italian Epic. “And like all truly great fashion designers, he has stuck to his style over the years, regardless of the changes in trends.” Shepherded by author Suzy Menkes and Matt Tyrnauer, a special correspondent for Vanity Fair, the book pays homage to Valentino’s reverence for what Menkes calls “a frothy, sensual, sweet-toothed glamour” that persisted in the face of era-defining trends like grunge and minimalism.
The 576-page epic, available for purchase June 10, is both a photographic timeline and an oral history. Quotes from those closest to Valentino, as well as a large number from Valentino himself and his business partner, Giancarlo Giammetti, diagram the origins of fashion PR, modern advertising, and prêt-à-porter. High-octane photographs set the opulence of Valentino’s designs against the backdrop of lavish Italian parties. Drawings, magazine editorials, and old advertisements fill in the gaps.
Valentino Clemente Ludovico Garavani was born in 1932 in the small town of Voghera, south of Milan. He studied briefly at the School of Art and Fashion in Milan but found his most valued training as an apprentice in the Parisian couture houses in the 1950s. Known for a rococo-style lavish femininity wrought with satin, lace, and chiffon, he would go on to establish, and later command, the Italian haute couture scene. After opening his fashion house in Rome in 1959, Valentino quickly developed a very loyal, very elite, clientele—one of the many secrets to his success.
He designed First Lady Jackie Kennedy Onassis’s second wedding dress. Additional patrons included actresses like Audrey Hepburn and socialites like Nan Kempner. Between icons like Karl Lagerfeld, Carolina Herrera, and Oscar de la Renta waxing lyrical about Valentino’s design prowess, the book peppers in sweet anecdotes about the glamour also present in his very dolce vita. Tom Ford says, “If I were a woman, I would buy an enormous part of my evening wardrobe at Valentino,” while Claudia Schiffer recounts being serenaded by the Italian public while posing in Rome for a Valentino shoot; she had to go out onto the balcony of his atelier and wave so they would be quiet.
The late Diana Vreeland summarizes that the great designer “likes women who believe in overdressing, creating a role, giving a feeling that they will not disappear into the background. His woman must startle; she must be riveting.” The book proves Valentino was just as riveting as his glamorous designs, as evidenced in every cheeky image of Valentino in his studio and each styled photograph of his iconic swathed tulle roses. Ahead, we’ve received a first look inside this new tome.
Couture, Spring-Summer 1967. Light coat in double-faced yellow-turquoise crepe wool. Mirella Petteni.
Group photo in Venice where everyone is reading a newspaper with a picture of Valentino: Daniela Giardina, Carlos de Souza, Luciano Villarini, Tom Ferris, Germaine Labarthe, Georgina Brandolini, 1980.
Valentino in his workshop in Via Gregoriana
Couture, Fall-Winter 1975/76. Honey-colored wool suit with sable-edged collar and cuffs and drawstring waist. The skirt is straight; the patterned silk blouse is in shades of honey and hazelnut. Jerry Hall.
Boutique, Spring-Summer 1995. Long white crepe dress with chevron openwork embroidery and long transparent sections over the hips. Claudia Schiffer.
Prêt-à-porter, Fall-Winter 1991, Mod. 250
