A Life in Valentino Red: Giancarlo Giammetti Tells His Story

If Valentino is the last emperor, as in the film of the same name, Giancarlo Giammetti is the Pope King of fashion. While Rome has its new American pontiff, in his office on Via Condotti Giammetti the Roman reigns where it all began, in his hands not the pastoral staff but an electronic button to call the French butler who rushes to the need in a nanosecond (but the imprudent interviewer fears that he also commands a small trap door that opens to get rid of him, perhaps at the wrong question, like Mr. Burns from The Simpsons). If there was a Pope Valentine, the hundredth of the Holy Roman Church, in the 19th century, there has never been a Pope Giancarlo. A tough guy, the hidden soul of the couple and the Valentino brand, among the colossal Kiefers that hang from the walls of this sovereign office and the crowds of assistants on the throne, Giammetti is back in Rome where the great adventure began, on July 31, 1960, when he, a young and lazy architecture student, met a young designer on the rise, a certain Valentino Garavani from Voghera, and they never left each other again, creating a myth and a business model of the 20th century. “But we never really left,” he says. Now the great return to Rome will see a new headquarters of the Valentino and Giammetti foundation that will open on May 24 in the historic building in Piazza Mignanelli, with a highly anticipated event. “We will have exhibitions, a cinema, cultural initiatives. But also a lot of philanthropy, focused on children and the elderly, which are the two areas that Valentino and I consider most in need of help. A specific project for the elderly at Gemelli” (and Giammetti says “elderly” as if he were talking about a distant, exotic universe, with the lively look of a boy who has seen a lot but would like to see more with dark eyes full of curiosity) “and a new waiting area at the emergency room at Bambin Gesù. I have been there and I have seen that there is no decent place where families can wait”. Does it come across a bit like he was also a failed architect? “Absolutely”, says Giammetti. Where did he attend? “At the Valle Giulia faculty, and before that at the San Gabriele college”. He has always said that he hated those studies. “I didn’t like studying, but I always liked architecture. Like art. I loved imagining. I didn’t like routine”. In a parallel life he could have been a gallery owner. His flair for paintings is historic. “Among my first purchases, at the Venice Biennale in 1966, I bought a Fontana, all white. I took it home very happy and showed it to my parents: do you like it? And they: but when will you open it? They thought it was the wrapping”. But in your homes the Bacons, the Warhols, the Picassos are famous. “We got a Picasso from a Milanese tailor, Lizzola, who we discovered was the painter’s tailor, who paid in paintings. I thought it was a joke, but it was one of the best Picassos around”. Warhol, on the other hand, was a hoax. “When we started to get going, he came to us in New York and asked if he could do a portrait of Valentino. Then we went to him and he had done several. How beautiful, I thought naively. Can you buy them? If you want one, it’s this much, if you take three, five for another amount, special offer. There was a whole price list, in short he made them on commission, but we couldn’t afford them yet. We made a fool of ourselves. We then bought two, paying a lot for them, many years later”. What times with Warhol though. “Yes, Studio 54 always. Even though we never took drugs, or alcohol, Valentino and I”. Excuse me, and the Piper in Rome? “No, we went to the Pipistrello and the 84 club on Via Sardegna, where we had lots of parties with Valentino”. Anyway. “At a certain point Andy came to Rome. He went to Naples to paint some pictures of Vesuvius, and then he wanted to work in the cinema: and we knew Franco Rossellini who was producing 'Identikit', based on a novella by Muriel Spark, the story of a mature German tourist who comes to Rome trying to free herself from depression. Played by Liz Taylor”. Excuse me, but why did Liz Taylor agree to play that not very inviting part? “Because she adored Rossellini and she adored being in Rome. Everyone wanted to be in Rome. You know, it was a period that is incomprehensible today. Diana Ross was in the film 'Mahogany', Liza Minnelli was always here too. It was an unrepeatable era. How beautiful it was”. And he gets emotional, then immediately regains his composure, you can see that he really enjoys playing the bad guy. Back to Warhol? “In the end there was only one role available, that of Taylor’s uniformed driver, and he did it, it’s still online.” Rome was unrepeatable at the time, but today? “It’s still a pleasant city, better than New York, better than Paris.” Even better than Milan? “I know very little about Milan, we only showed the men’s collection there, I’ve never had many friends, only acquaintances in Milan. Interesting city, but Rome is something else.” And America today? “I don’t go there.” America was the basis of your fortune, with the Hollywood actresses on the Tiber, with the first ladies. “The first time we met Liz Taylor was in 1960 and for the premiere of 'Spartacus' in Rome she bought the most expensive dress in the collection, all white. A great actress and a great person, many years later in 1991 we went together to a Caritas shelter in Villa Glori among AIDS patients, she who was on the front lines in America in the fight against the virus was sitting there on the floor explaining the treatments and health protocols to the patients”. And then of course Jackie Kennedy, how did you meet her? In the dress from her wedding to Onassis? “No, much earlier. The first time we were recommended by Consuelo Crespi's sister, who worked for us, and came to one of our fashion shows at the Plaza, and from there we created a beautiful relationship”. And Nancy Reagan, another historic client and friend? “She was smaller, very presidential. And very curious, every day at 3 pm she called Valentino and wanted to know all the gossip. But Valentino is not a gossip at all, on the contrary”. Nancy Reagan like the lawyer Agnelli, another friend and curious companion and also a bit of a muse of the Valentino world. “When he came to my office in Piazza Mignanelli he said it looked like Chaplin's in 'The Great Dictator'”. Indeed. “In Cetona, on the other hand, from our house overlooking the town you could see a lot of parked cars. Gianni was very witty there: 'look at the damage we have done with our cars'”. With Gianni and Marella you also had Renzo Mongiardino in common, a sublime house-liner in every corner of the globe. “He did Valentino’s in Rome, Cetona, New York. And in New York he had just finished doing the Lawyer’s apartment, which he hadn’t loved, and he had his bedroom redone by Gae Aulenti.” Another shared passion, Balthus. “Ah, Balthus, wait,” he presses the button and I don’t sink, but instead the French-speaking butler arrives, who is sent to look for a catalog of the French painter of cats and girls. He reappears a second later with the catalog (who knows what training). “Balthus was convinced that the paintings, even once sold, were still his. So at a certain point he saw this portrait of a girl in our house, with the belt, and he sent for a painter to change the color of the belt, because he didn’t like it. There was no way to make him understand that it wasn’t the case.” Returning to the glorious times of the beginning, here is the most glorious Roman start-up that can be remembered. “We started here, in this apartment, then we moved to via Gregoriana which was the fashion street at the time. We shared a flat with the owner, Mrs. Ricupito, I still remember her name; it was an apartment full of cats, a very modest place. But Marella Agnelli would arrive, Mia Acquarone would arrive, all the most important ladies. In front of us were Simonetta's ateliers, then there was Capucci, and not far away Galitzine, and then Federico Forquet, Fabiani, all very good”. But only you have become global and sidereal stars, why? He shoots me with a flick of his eyebrow. “Maybe because we were talented?”. Then he relaxes. “Maybe because we were good at communication. Maybe because we were also curious, to know. To learn. How to entertain, how to furnish a house: then we were not shy but not presumptuous either. We came out of our shells”. In fact, only they navigated and dominated that world that was not that of today's influencers in slippers, but rather a universe that mixed royal heights, intellectuals, industrialists, Capote-style swans, where, in short, being rich was necessary but not sufficient to be part of a great history of transatlantic taste in the making. “And then there was our union, a union that no one else had.” Maybe, I venture, there was Saint Laurent with Pierre Bergé. Another lightning bolt. “The difference is that Saint Laurent was a person who suffered a lot, who in the end was surrounded by people who did not make him happy. Instead, in my life I have always done everything to make Valentino’s life happy, I hear from him every day, and we see each other, and when he sees me I feel that he is happy. I feel that this is my greatest pride.” Has there ever been a moment when he got tired of being one step behind, of exercising this patience? Of being number two? He laughs, as if it were an absurd question, and maybe it is. “No. I have never sought glory. After all, Valentino introducing me to Queen Elizabeth said: 'Can I introduce you to my assistant?'” You were pioneers of the true queer family. Even today, comrades, ex-comrades, all together. “Yes, now there are the twins of Sean, one of the sons of Carlos (historical collaborator and godson of the Valentino house), I have always liked to keep the people I love around me”.

Suddenly the Mongiardino-lined queer family became public knowledge, it was 2008 and “Valentino, the last emperor” exploded, the documentary about a couple of stylists that transformed a coming out into one of the highest audiovisual moments of the 2000s. Lines like “Too much sand”; “too tanned”, “I don’t want any dwarfs in the fashion show”, “keep your belly in”, “the Ara Pacis? It looks like Macy’s” are common vocabulary for anyone who isn’t General Vannacci (or maybe even for him). And then the pugs and the butlers who brush his teeth in Gstaad or on the private jet. They were also precursors there, today when a documentary is not denied to anyone, and one about stylists is a mandatory format, but back then it wasn’t used. “A crew of three people followed us non-stop for two years. When we saw the film in preview I called the director, Matt Tyrnauer, and told him: call your lawyers”. Then you convinced yourselves. “We only cut a few minor scenes.” It is said that Marta Marzotto took offense at how you bullied her son Matteo, who was president of the Valentino company at the time. “Marta was gorgeous, but she didn’t speak English and when she saw the film in the theater at the Venice Film Festival she was thrilled, then they translated it for her and the next day, we were at the Monaco Hotel, she got furious.” But are the pugs still there? “Yes, two, I have two Pomeranians. But I’m less of a dog lover than Valentino.” Among the most hilarious scenes, Valentino blowing up in French because he disputes some of Giammetti’s choices and especially because he can’t stand the crew anymore. Why did you speak French to each other? “Because when we met on Via Veneto Valentino told me that he thought in French, he had been in Paris. It seemed a bit exaggerated to me, and he asked me if I spoke it too, I bluffed, we made a little conversation, and he said: yes yes I understand, now I'll teach you, and since then we have always spoken French”. Also in French is the delivery of the Legion of Honor to Valentino who gets emotional talking about Giammetti (off to the side, who also gets emotional. Obviously only for a moment, then there is a new party and a new fashion show). Never complain and never explain, as was the custom in the twentieth century; and “Private” is a sort of motto of his, that's what a big book of his photographic memories from 2013 is called but also his Instagram account, and in English “private” also means “private soldier”, like “Saving Private Ryan”, and in the film sometimes you think “save Private Giammetti”.

But did you then decide once and for all which bar you met in for the first time? In the film you support the Café de Paris, Valentino Doney. “Valentino remains adamant about Doney”. How did your families take your love story? “Our mothers were very good friends. Two completely different types. Valentino’s family was from Voghera, mine were Romans. His mother was an extraordinary woman, from Lombardy, old-fashioned. For example: here in this atelier, she would go around in the evening with a magnet to collect the pins that the seamstresses dropped, then she would dust them and make sure they were clean in the morning. My mother, on the other hand, was more worldly, she loved playing cards. They got along very well”. And your father? “I lost him very early. He was an entrepreneur, a man of the boom, he had a company and an appliance shop, in via Lazio 13. We lived in via Adda”. In short, a boy from via Veneto. “He was at home on Via Veneto. He dreamed of a son who was an engineer, which he later had, my brother, and an architect, which he never had.” How did he take your story? “At a certain point he confronted me and I told the truth. He was a little sorry at first, then they became close with Valentino. I’m sorry because he didn’t get to see all our success.” TM Blue One, Valentino’s legendary boat, is named after the initials of the Garavani parents, right? “Yes, Teresa and Mauro.” Do you still do cruises with the two boats side by side, Tm and Gg? “Of course.” But which is better, New York or Voghera? “Well, in Voghera there’s Via Emilia, not Fifth Avenue. In Voghera we restored the Teatro Sociale which is now called the Valentino Garavani theater. And we used to pass by Voghera when we went to Cannes or St. Tropez by car.” At a certain point you arrived in a blue Rolls Royce. “But we also did a big show in 2023 with Eleonora Abbagnato.” And then there is a bit of Voghera there too, the tutor of the Avvocato was Franco Antonicelli, a famous anti-fascist from Voghera. And then there was a time when within a radius of two hundred meters from Piazza di Spagna lived three illustrious people from Voghera, Valentino, Arbasino and Maria Angiolillo. Okay. But all these memories, don't you want to make another book, after "Private", composed mostly of Polaroids? "Well, I don't know, I don't want to, I wouldn't want something too written"; says Giammetti, a saint right away, in a world where everyone is now a graphomaniac. It is said that he has 57 thousand photos aside. “But that was ten years ago, now it's a lot more. This is also a lesson from Warhol, who like me was obsessed with immortalizing the moment. He would come to the bar and leave the tape recorder on the table, then he would have it transcribed, and something would come out. And then his photographs, how many of them we threw away, are now worth 25 thousand dollars each. I was also a Polaroid maniac, I always went around with the camera, even at the White House”. But they didn't tell you anything? “Let's say we were quite well-liked”. Do you still take photos today? “No, with the phone it seems cheap to me, and walking around with a camera they would take me for a tourist”. But you are very technological. “That since forever. I remember the first computer, gigantic. Today I am quite good with artificial intelligence”. What do you use? ChatGPT? “Midjourney. I make drawings, I designed an entire Valentino collection completely invented, I was saying, here put Naomi, here put Christy Turlington”. And then do you keep them or do they get lost? “You are joking, I am a maniac of organization, if you ask me for a letter from 1988 I have catalogued it”.

Also catalogued are the legendary projects for the fashion shows, before AI existed. “I’ve always tried to be creative”. A certain passion for sand, like in the film, and like in the spring summer ’67 campaign with Mirella Petteni on the dunes. “It was all semolina. But for a camouflage-themed fashion show we borrowed a 14-meter-long Warhol. Oh, if only we had bought it”. But is there a painting he is more fond of than all the others, one he wants to see every morning? “I’m not that romantic”. Don’t pretend, come on. So let’s say someone who regrets not having bought or sold? “Here, better. A Basquiat that I sold too soon”, he says, with the bell ready in his hands, private but not too much (but the trap door hasn’t sprung yet, oh well).

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