MANILA, Philippines - Matt Tyrnauer’s Valentino: The Last Emperor is a riveting documentary about designer Valentino Garavani, his private side with lifetime partner Giancarlo Giammetti, and a fascinating career as the master of Italian haute couture spanning 45 years.
Valentino created designs for Jacqueline Kennedy (including the one she wore to her wedding with Aristotle Onassis) Elizabeth Taylor, Jacqueline de Ribes, Sophia Loren, Audrey Hepburn, Meryl Streep, Sarah Jessica Parker and Julia Roberts.
“We were let in to the inner circle, but we had to stick it out for a long time, practically move in, to capture the truly great moments,” says Tyrnauer. “Valentino is surrounded by a tight-knit family of friends and employees, but eventually, their guard came down and they forgot there was a camera crew in the room. The scope of Valentino’s wealth and the elaborate-ness of his global lifestyle put him on a level with emperors, kings, and queens. It is a world of villas, chateaux, yachts, fine art and Meissen porcelain treasures.”
Valentino: The Last Emperor looks at a majestic life from the inside, but the movie is not a simple story of shallow glamour. It is the saga of a family — though not a traditional one — and a meditation on the creative process. It’s also the story of a soon-to-be-forgotten lifestyle at the twilight of haute couture.
It is also, in the words of Valentino’s longtime business partner, Giancarlo Giammetti, “Not a story of money or fashion; it is a story of love.”
The documentary’s high point is Valentino’s final show, staged in Rome’s Ara Pacis Museum. A collection of Valentino gowns from his early days to the present are draped on mannequins and mounted along two walls of the museum, lighted from beneath. Karl Lagerfeld pays homage, as does the elegant Hubert de Givenchy while Donatella Versace looks on admiringly. A huge party with a dazzling guest list is held at the Temple of Venus. A fashion writer comments that Valentino, Yves St. Laurent, and Lagerfeld, who apprenticed in Paris in the 1950s, were taught by Givenchy, Christian Dior, and Pierre Balmain, themselves heirs to Cristobal Balenciaga, Elsa Schiaparelli and Paul Poiret. She notes, sadly, that they have no successors. It’s the end of an era.
Cebu and Davao-based glossy magazine, Zee Lifestyle, will be presenting this critically-acclaimed documentary, Valentino: The Last Emperor in an exclusive one-time screening in Manila, Davao and Cebu. The by-invitation-only screening is presented together with Samsung on Aug. 20 in Manila, Aug. 23 in Davao and Aug. 27 in Cebu.
For information, visit www.zeelifestylecebu.com.