Valentino: The Last Emperor, Matt Tyrnauer’s gimlet-eyed documentary about the luxurious world of Valentino, the legendary Italian couturier who died this week at age 93, was released in 2008. And now, many many fashion docs later — it’s hard to think of a designer or brand that hasn’t had one — the film is still considered among the greatest.
Back in 2004, when Vanity Fair editor Matt Tyrnauer was initially sent to Rome to interview Valentino and business/life partner Giancarlo Giammetti, Tyrnauer was not even a fashion writer: “I was always an outsider to fashion, I still am,” Tyrnauer admits. “But when VF gave the assignment, I knew a lot about Rome.”
Why did the famed Roman duo give the young Tyrnauer so much access — not just to their company, but their many homes, entourages, pugs, etc. “I think they liked I was a young gay American who knew Rome. After the film came out, the Italian news started running headlines: ‘Valentino comes out as gay.’ It was understood then, but never spoken about. In the end, I think Valentino was glad it came out. It’s a relationship that lasted 65 years.” Wasn’t there a break-up somewhere along the way? “There was no breakup,” Tyrnauer recalls. “They were always partners. Sure, there were others — boyfriends came and went, entourages, too. But Valentino and Giancarlo built that entire business together.”
Before the VF interview (which came out in 2004) was even finished, Tyrnauer had asked them if they would participate in a film. “They immediately said, ‘yes.’ I think they thought of it as another marketing opportunity.”
The over-the-top luxury of their lives is one of the things that makes the doc so iconic. “I’d studied Rome,” explains Tyrnauer. “Their headquarters at Piazza Mignanelli in the Piazza di Spagna is a big looming presence, with a gold V over the Palladian arch. I was expecting great, but nothing prepares you for their lifestyle. Even the office was sort of papal. The Mayor of Rome once said, ‘In Rome, there’s the Pope and there’s Valentino.’ But I love Gianni Agnelli’s line in the film about the white gloved servants, the pug entourage, the furniture: ‘I live like a king, but Valentino lives better than me. And I don’t know how he does it.’”
It was one thing to have access to Valentino HQ, and another to travel around Valentino’s various homes and apartments. “There were Botero paintings in the office,” he recalls. “But you went to their home, you were surrounded by Picassos, Cy Twomblys, Andy Warhols, even Richard Prince paintings. My mind was blown, blown. And then, the décor — opulent is an understatement. They’d worked with all the great architects, from Renzo Mongiardino to Jacques Grange to Peter Marino. They lived in a kind of cocoon of style that was really unmatched. Giametti was a business genius. They had sold the company, got it back, did this three times. They were very early with marketing, early to ready-to-wear. They were really business pioneers.”
Tyrnauer didn’t go into the project with that imposing title in mind. “I never come up with the titles of my films till the last minute. This popped into my head one day. At first, they didn’t like it. Of course, they didn’t have any editorial control over the film; I had complete control. It was essential. They fought me tooth and nail — trust me, they had opinions.”
They also had opinions when they first saw the film. “They tried to stop it,” Tyrnauer admits. “It wasn’t a puff piece; I’m a journalist. It was much more revealing than they wanted it to be. They were seen bickering, which they did — that was all real. It wasn’t the commercial for them they wanted.”
The couple weren’t sure they even wanted it released till it debuted at the Venice Film Festival in 2008 with a standing ovation. Next week, it played Toronto and got another one. “Then Oprah Winfrey devoted a full show to the film. It wound up playing for months on end in movie theaters around the world — a big sleeper success. Then they embraced it. When it played Venice, Valentino was in the balcony. He stood up, took a long bow during the long-standing ovation. They he cried and immediately changed his mind about the film.”
Since then, Tyrnauer has gone on to make well-received documentaries on Roy Cohn, Studio 54 and the Reagans among other subjects. “It’s really Valentino that started my filmmaking career,” he confides. “I was very lucky to get that assignment. It changed my life. And it actually changed his.”
Did Valentino ever spill the dirt on the many iconic ladies he dressed? “He adored Jackie Kennedy. You know, she started his career. Gloria Schiff [Vogue editor, socialite, philanthropist] told me she and Jackie were playing tennis one day and Jackie was in a mood. She said she had nothing to wear. Gloria told her a young Italian designer was in town showing his new collection. Jackie attended and bought the whole collection. That’s when Valentino became a household name. Later on, Valentino did his famous collection all in white. Jackie wound up wearing one of those gowns to her wedding to Onassis.”
Were there any designers the maestro admired or completed dismissed? “He was friends with Karl Lagerfeld — very good friends,” notes Tyrnauer. “In the part of the film at Valentino’s retirement party [in 2008], Lagerfeld leans into him and whispers, ‘Outside of us, everyone else makes rags.’ Valentino was also fond of Saint Laurent. But the only other designer he thought was talented was [the late] Alber Elbaz [of Lanvin]. He thought Alber was the next great designer.”
I asked Tyrnauer, who had stayed in touch with Valentino, how the couturier felt about the designers who succeeded him at his namesake brand. “He loved Pier Paolo (Piccioli) and Maria Grazia (Chiuri) — they’d worked under him, of course. About Allesandro Michele [the current Valentino designer, known for maximal adornment] I really don’t know. But I can tell you this: Valentino always said: ‘I do not like a messy girl!’”
