He was born Valentino Garavani, but from the time he became a first-line fashion designer, among the most haute of the haute couture, he was known solely by his first name, as if he were a soccer star or a rapper. "Valentino: The Last Emperor," which opens today, is a fascinating look into his life and the golden circle in which he lived.
Matt Tyrnauer directed the documentary, showing Valentino’s genius and his spoiled-brat temperament, his ability to create beauty in the midst of chaos, to concentrate at the pinnacle of the fashion world, where clashing temperaments rattle around like grenades with the pins already pulled.
Valentino, along with Giancarlo Giametti, his friend, lover and co-worker for a half-century, put his stamp on fashion for about the same length of time, always a designer with great talent, whose gowns made women look beautiful, whose wedding dress for Jacqueline Kennedy’s marriage to Aristotle Onassis made him a world-wide name, whose patented color creation, Valentino Rosso, or Valentino Red, became a trademark.
The world of high fashion, always a train wreck an instant from happening, is well-captured by Tyrnauer and his crew, and the film is decorated with stars of the silver screen, the golden goblets, the platinum platitudes, the diamond diatribes and the artistic air-kisses all paying homage to the designer. Many familiar faces, all dressed to the nines, show up at parties and fashion shows. making the film like a tour through a Versailles palace filled with petit fours.
At the Hi-Pointe
-Joe