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KNOW	INTERVIEWS

Valentino: The Last Great Emperor

FYA's Karen Marta talks to Mr. Tyrnauer about Mr. Valentino, in time for his his L.A. book signing and film premiere this week

Matt Tyrnauer, special correspondent for Vanity Fair since 1992, has spent the last four years getting to know the great Valentino. The book, Valentino Garavani. Una grande storia italiana, written by Tyrnauer and Suzy Menkes, was published and will be signed by Valentino at TASCHEN in Beverly Hills on Thursday, April 2. His first feature-length documentary, Valentino: The Last Great Emperor, premieres Friday, April 3.

Did you ever see Mr. Valentino in an unkempt moment?
Never a speck of lint or a hair out of place. He is the embodiment of personal perfection and excellence. I did once see him lose a top shirt button in the Ritz restaurant. It was a mini-state of emergency. But he recovered.

What role does art play in Mr. Valentino’s life?
I have never met a person so aesthetically driven as Valentino. He has a great line in the movie: "I love a beautiful house, a beautiful dog, a beautiful piece of furniture. I love beauty. It’s not my fault." Painters have inspired collections. Basquiat most recently. His houses are filled with canvases, and very good ones. He lives at a level almost unknown any more. Castles, boats, villas, Gstaad, Italy, France, London, New York. Homes on top of homes. Five of his six pugs make most of the trips between houses with him. It takes a big effort to live that large.

How did red become Mr. Valentino’s signature?
He saw a Spanish woman in red on a trip to Spain when he was a young man. He pulled on it for inspiration years later. It became his trademark. There is even a Pantone chip called Valentino Red. It was interesting that his final couture show in Rome did not have too many red dresses. The finale was pink–the unexpected. I think Valentino wanted to show that he was not just the "red dress designer."

Did you set out to make a love story when you conceived of the project?
The love story, the story of the amazing closer-than-close relationship between Valentino and Giancarlo Giammetti, is the central theme of the movie because it’s the central theme of their lives. Their relationship is what fascinated me. There is a universal theme here: love, in its polymorphous form, which is probably what you don’t expect to see on the screen. You expect models and fashion scenes. It just happens that this is a love story between two of the richest men in Rome, one them is an icon of fashion history, and it’s a very basic human tale. The other amazing aspect of the film is the clothes-making. You see what they do to produce these $100,000 (sometimes more) pieces of art. Pin by pin, stitch by stitch, tantrum after tantrum.

What happened to your personal life when you filmed nonstop for two years?
My life has became much more Roman. Quick espresso in the morning, standing up, then off to film. I am a Roman at heart. Or at least a Southern Italian of some stripe.

Valentino: The Last Great Emperor, premieres in Los Angeles April 3 at Laemmle Sunset 5.