Students of the Full-Time Fashion and Luxury Management Master (Rome-Paris) and Specialized Master in Fashion Management had the very special experience of visiting Maison Valentino, a unique opportunity as the archives are generally closed to the public.
The Maison’s archives collect designs from the 50s onwards and host sketches, dresses, accessories and even color libraries creators can use as reference when designing today.
Accompanied by Program Directors, Michela Bonafoni and Giuliana Baldo Chiaron, and guided by Valentino’s staff, students discovered the real treasure: sketches of the 1959 collection designed by Valentino Garavani himself.
Valentino was born in Voghera, a small town in Lombardy, in 1932. Since the early years he apprenticed under local designers, leaving then for Paris for his formal education. He started his own line in Rome, in 1959 and just a couple years later he was already a favourite among socialites and aristocratic women. In his early shows, Valentino quickly gained recognition for his red dresses, in a shade that became widely known as “Valentino red” and his reputation was cemented in 1962 after a show in Florence, at Palazzo Pitti.
Valentino has dressed some of the most famous women in the world, including having specially designed wedding dresses for Elizabeth Taylor, Anne Hathaway, Jennifer Lopez, Courteney Cox, Sophie Hunter and Princess Madeleine of Sweden
The Maison Valentino places high value on mixing innovation and tradition.
An aesthetic, contemporary vision and the excellence in the execution, are the guidelines of the industrial process and of the artisanal and handmade workmanship that are entirely produced in the historic Atelier of Piazza Mignanelli in Rome, where the specialized ‘Bottega Couture’ couture school, has recently opened.
Today the company produces the Haute Couture and Prêt-à-Porter lines for women and for men and through the Valentino Garavani accessories lines that include shoes, bags, small leather goods, eyewear, scarves, ties and fragrances. An aesthetic universe, present in over 100 countries.
Since the July 2016 Valentino Garavani has nominated Pierpaolo Piccioli sole Creative Director of the Maison.
By learning about the Maison’s designing techniques, students truly gained insight into the Maison’s creative minds. Our students really cherished such an opportunity and we thank Valentino and Violante Valdettaro, responsible of Heritage and Special Events, who guided us through this special Company Visit!
