Living with Valentino
From an orientalist dining room complete with blue and white fine china nestled in a London flat to Portuguese porcelain in a Gestaad ski chalet and Russian dinner-service sets paired with ruby red Irish glass plates in a New York City home, Valentino Garavani (more commonly known simply as Valentino) surrounds himself with luxury. Extreme elegance exudes from the interiors of his homes scattered around the globe, and his new book VALENTINO: At the Emperor’s Table offers an intimate glimpse into the designer’s opulent world.
“I am in love with beauty. I have always loved beautiful objects,” Valentino admits in the opening of the book. “I am very often alone and enjoying my houses. Entertaining 30 or one is the same; the food has to be on a beautiful plate.”
Looking through more than 190 pages filled with text and 80 accompanying illustrations and photographs by Oberto Gili, the reader escapes from his or her world into one of unending decadence. Flipping one page can transport viewers across the Atlantic, where they land within Valentino’s self-proclaimed residential crown jewel: the Chateau de Wideville, a historic decorative masterpiece located outside of Paris.
As fashion editor and friend André Leon Talley writes in the book’s introduction, “Valentino Garavani designs his luncheons and dinners, in all of his homes, the way he has created crescendos and allegros vivace throughout his 40-plus-year career as one of the greatest haute couture designers and high-fashion leaders in the world.” But despite Valentino being the emperor of fashion and l’art de vivre, Talley continues, “When you enter his world…you enter a rare and opulent, yet warm space.”
VALENTINO: AT THE EMPEROR’S TABLE WAS RELEASED LAST WEEK VIA ASSOULINE AND CAN BE PURCHASED HERE.
