The 2007 Fall/Winter haute couture shows have begun in Paris, but Italian designer Valentino is leaving that scene behind, choosing instead to show his new collection in Rome where he will also stage an elaborate three-day celebration of his 45th anniversary as a stylist. The move from France to Italy is the designer’s way of paying homage to the Eternal City, both for receiving him so enthusiastically when he began his career half a century ago, and for the changes that have taken place across the Eterna in the past decades, turning it into a world-class cultural center: “I think of Rome not as a fashion capital but a culture capital,” he said. “I’ve come back after all those years in Paris because I think it was only right to show affection for the city that adopted me almost 50 years ago.”
The fashion show and its accompanying celebrations commence this weekend and Valentino has promised to turn heads with “the biggest show the fashion world has ever seen”. Festivities begin with the inauguration of the exhibit, “Valentino: 45 Years of Style,” in Rome’s new Ara Pacis Museum. Some 300 of the designer’s dresses will embellish Richard Meier’s starkly modern new museum, wittily surrounding the Altar of Peace created for the first Roman emperor, Augustus, between 13 and 9 BC. Though the exhibit does not open to the public until 8 July, we’ve managed to sneak a few photos of luxuriously-clad mannequins admiring the oh-so-classical ancient altar.
Other events include a massive party on the ruins of the second-century Temple of Venus & Rome near the Colosseum, where Oscar-winning set designer Dante Ferretti has spent the past weeks creating a stunning temporary reconstruction of the building. In exchange for use of the site, Valentino has donated 200,000 euro for restoration and preservation of the temple.
The new haute couture collection will be shown to 1000 guests in the beautifully frescoed fifteenth century complex of Santo Spirito in Sassia, near Saint Peter’s Basilica, and will be followed by a gala dinner in the Villa Borghese.
The star-studded guest list includes government and city officials, friends, celebrities, clients and leading figures from the international press. Among those confirmed by Valentino include Gwyneth Paltrow, Sarah Jessica Parker, Claudia Schiffer, Donald and Melanie Trump, Elle Macpherson, Meryl Streep, Princess Caroline of Monaco with Princes Andrea and Pierre Casiraghi and Princess Charlotte, and Rupert Everett. Valentino’s office touts the event as a boon to the Roman economy, for some 250 waiters, 250 drivers, 200 security staff, 130 people involved in the staging of the events, 100 organizers, 60 hostesses, 20 cooks, and 20 sommeliers will be employed.
For more photos of Valentino’s retrospective at the Ara Pacis, visit Rome With A View
