Jackie Kennedy, Audrey Hepburn, and Carla Bruni are just a few names of fabulous stars known to wear extraordinary Valentino haute couture. Their impeccable dresses are now on display. The 80 year old dinosaur of Italian haute couture opened his ‘catwalk’ last week in Somerset House in London. A 60 meter long runway demonstrates gowns and dresses throughout six decades, in a non-chronological order on 137 mannequins with skin tones matching the decades. Accompanied with a name tag of their wearer, the incredible dresses come to life in the romantic settings of Somerset House in London. 
Followed by a room dedicated to the virtual Valentino Museum, opening up the ginormous archive, is a space with videoclips on a loop of artisans working on techniques exclusive to the Italian fashion house.
The ‘catwalk’ exhibition showcases the skills of the fashion designer who resigned as creative director in september 2007. Taking over the reign at Valentino, the work of Pierpaolo Piccioli and Maria Grazia Chiuri is not present in the London exhibition. Their work, highly appreciated as it is, is no part of it.
‘Valentino: Master of Couture’ (through March 3, 2013) celebrates the fashion legacy and exquisite haute couture of the glorious Roman fashion house, putting Valentino Garavani up there with the couture Gods.
A must see? Ja, genau.
All photo’s above by Peter Macdiarmid. (Courtesy of Sommerset House)
Valentino Garavani and Natalia Vodianova at Musee Nissim de Camodo in Paris 2011. Photo by Kevin Tachman©
Valentino with models 2007 Photo by Lorenzo Agius©