Giancarlo Giammetti on Securing Valentino’s Legacy

0:04Hi, this is Imran Ahmed, founder and CEO of the Business of Fashion. Welcome to the BOF podcast. It's Friday, May 30th. Giancarlo Giametti first met Valentino Garavani by chance on July 31st, 1960, setting in motion one of fashion's most enduring and most successful creative partnerships. Together, they transformed Valentino into a global fashion powerhouse celebrated for its elegance, craftsmanship, and cultural influence. In 2016, Mr. Giametti co-founded the Fondazione Valentino Garavani and Giancarlo Giametti to preserve the remarkable legacy, promote creativity, and foster charitable and educational initiatives.

0:53This week in Rome, I had the honor of sitting down with Mr. Giametti at PM23, the newly opened home of the foundation located right next to the Valentino headquarters where their journey together first began. In this exclusive interview, Mr. Giametti reflects on the founding days of Valentino, the importance of protecting creative integrity in a fashion market that prioritizes commercialization, and why it is critical for the industry to support future generations of designers who are increasingly overlooked by a fashion system under growing pressure. This continuous change of people, using people to cover jobs because their job doesn't go well.

1:45So I took another designer, put a team, and then I took another CEO and put over there. It makes a bit of confusion and no one of them really became part of the legacy of the company. That's what is a big problem today. During my visit, Mr. Giametti guided me through the foundation's first exhibit, Horizons Red, which showcases the enduring legacy and influence of Valentino's designs mixed in with one-of-a-kind pieces of contemporary art. Here's Giancarlo Giametti on the BOF podcast. Mr. Giamatti, thank you for inviting me here to the new foundation today. I have so many questions to ask you, and I obviously want to ask you about this wonderful new place, but I want to start at the very beginning of your story with Valentino.

2:40You first met Mr. Valentino on July 31st, 1960. Tell me, what are your most vivid memories of that first meeting with Mr. Valentino? Well, you know, I was sitting in a cafe. And this was the Dolce Nita, the moment in which that street, the Veneto was really the center of the social life of Rome. Also, don't forget, in the 60s, Rome was called Hollywood on the type Tiber. because a lot of movies were made there. So it was fun to sit there and just to watch. Nobody had a table unless you knew somebody important in the bar, in the cafe structure. So my father was very much involved in the good life.

3:39I had my table. I was waiting for 11 o 'clock where the nightclub called the Pipistrello, the BAT, was open. So I was sitting there all alone in a lot of activities around me. And a kind person came and said, are you alone? I said, yes. Do you mind if me and my friend can sit here? Of course. Sit. And Valentino sat next to me. And that's the first moment, of course. It was a moment that I remember very deeply. And then Valentino started to talk to me in French, to speak to me in French. I said, sorry. And he said, oh, sorry, I just arrived from Paris after seven years. My mind goes French and I was hoping that you speak French.

4:35I said, yes, of course, I studied French all my life. So he said three words and didn't know what it means, of course. And he told me, from now on, if I see you again, we speak French. And we still do, incredibly. So this is a bit what started all of it. And then I was leaving for my holidays. I was going to Capri and a few days later I met him there and in September I started to see him more and be involved more in his work and his private life, of course. And then, as they say, the rest is kind of history. You know, there's so much that's happened since then. You got quite involved in the business of Valentino quite quickly.

5:31I mean, when you arrived on the scene when Mr. Valentino was just starting, how did you get involved? Why did you get involved? And what was the state of the business at that time? Our business? Better not tell you. But anyway, I remember going to see him. he invited me to see him in his new atelier, an atelier where now I made my office. Which we were at yesterday. Exactly. And he was working on this dress because this is the dress that he just presented. So the dress was the piece unique of the collection. Every woman wanted to have the dress, etc. Not every woman, few women, because the business was not amazing and then i didn't i was not a designer i was not a an accountant i don't know anything about this but i knew i knew that there was some problems there because i started to see him and nervous and they said what's going on and finally he told me i don't have a penny the investor that my father brought in they left me and so i don't know what to do so i start to say let me talk to with you to the people to to see if we can understand the better what the situation because he didn't know what was the future so we made the And the accountant said the only way that you can go on with your activity is that you make bankruptcy, which was not bankruptcy.

7:18It was a kind of chapter 11, American, but you have to leave the premises immediately. So we left with the truck full of green satin chairs, gold chairs, because of that we were able to steal from the place. And we end up around the corner to a street which was famous for designers, for fashion at the time. It's called the Via Gregoriana. and we rent half an apartment there to bring our chairs and to bring our atelier, the people working for us. And the other half, the owner of the place, Mrs. Ricupito, and had cats. So the smell of cats was impossible. It's very simple. But in that apartment, they start to arrive the very important people, from Elizabeth Taylor to Marella Agnelli, to all the aristocracy.

8:29So basically you started all over again. You had to start the company from scratch. We changed the status of the company. His mother became the chairman of the company because he couldn't do it anymore, him. and so we stayed there a couple of years and then we took the top floor of the place where now the brand is and then little by little we took all the palace. So over time, you know, in this creative and business partnership, you know, how did you get involved? What were you responsible for and what did Mr. Valentino do and how did you keep those two things kind of separate? It was normal. I never thought that I should be involved in the fashion part.

9:23I was very much involved in the sense that, of course, I was discussing with him. He was showing me everything. If he didn't like something, I told him, which didn't make any difference because Valentino was always, get out of here if you don't like it and look at it and that kind of stuff. But of course I decided that around him it was not just a business, you know, like I look at the numbers or things like this. Of course I had the people doing this with me, but my idea is to develop a business in a very important, like everybody has to know Valentino. And everybody knew Valentino very soon, because I started to move the show instead of doing room.

10:17We started to work in Florence, which was the heart of the fashion in that moment, of the Palazzo Pitti, where the first time we went, they gave us the wrong side of the calendar, the worst last day. But people started to talk about us. So the room was super full of very important buyers and journalists. And then, of course, the season after I got the best time, best hours, best everything. But this was my work. understand is, I don't know, to create our own business and our own facade, two young person people, ambitious maybe, very courageous. And people like that, did like that, yes. Was there a moment that you remember when you realized this was going to become a success, that Valentino would kind of transcend just fashion and become a real cultural institution.

11:36Yeah. But don't forget that Italian fashion was never recognized as important as French one until, I guess, 1974, when the first pret -à-porter in Milano with Armani, Versace, Ferrer, at the time there was another incredible name, Crizia, start to... So in that moment also, I think there was a moment when Valentino was recognized. Also, even if Jackie Kennedy, already in 1968, started to dress Valentino. I've been seeing one dress on a friend of hers. And so the collection flew to New York to be presented to the ex-first lady because he died just one year earlier. In fact, the first big order she made was only black or black and white.

12:41And those are the moments in which I start to understand And we made it. And then Valentino did the All-A-White Collection 68, which was also very famous. The first cover, the first Vogue, all those things. What were the biggest challenges you faced with Mr. Valentino at that time? Because sure, there were these moments where the brand was gaining visibility. All of these very high-profile people were wearing Valentino. but it was still challenging though to build a build a business from scratch no see it was challenging until we retired yeah you know fashion unfortunately it's not just a marvellous of course and and the difficult business is also challenging because there is something always they make you lose a sleeping well I mean because I always been very much around me those wait to maintain the business and then later to make him free which was I think one of the best challenge I had the best probably yes I made it yes to make him free to do what he wants.

14:07At the moment, it was not possible anymore. I told him, why should we hear? Why should we be older, what to do, when to do, how many collections? You are not for that. And he said, yes, I'm not for that. I'm very honoree. Let's go. I mean, this idea of making him feel free and making him feel safe. in a way the role you played with him was not just as his business partner but also the person who protected him and kind of shielded him from all of the pressure of the business. It is. It is still. And yeah, this special relationship that we had to protect each other to be the person you call in the morning first and the last night because you want to share everything you feel.

15:08And yes, this was a lot of work because of course life challenged all this, challenged the fact that you want to be with a person all your life. There are too many instructions, especially in the fashion world, which sometimes tend to separate people, tend to make them two different persons when they begin. And so it was difficult, but still. Valentino came here a few days ago and he was, of course, very, very pleased. Also, he said something about the show and the clothes. they say something about the purity. I feel that those are pure, and which is true. They are simple and pure. Forget the star inside the red carpet, the lights, but then the dress is there.

16:09And that's what I want to show here, that the clothes are much more than what people think. You said just now that the fashion industry has a tendency to pull people apart or break people up. But why has your relationship, your working relationship, your personal relationship, why has it endured so long? What are the secrets that you have to maintaining such a long, enduring relationship in the face of so many challenges? Yeah, because we grew up related so much to each other that we cannot be separate. There is nothing. You know, everything, even when we had, I mean, in our private life, some rupture, something that changed our, after a while, we keep doing a family.

17:11And that's why we have such a big family because all of our friends became family with us. and that's the strength. In the meantime, really the need of him and me to relate to each other still. I watched the Last Emperor documentary last night just for fun because I hadn't seen it for a very... Last night? I watched it last night, yeah. I wanted to remember because I remember when I first saw the documentary, it painted such an honest portrait of you and Mr. Valentino's relationship. And it's not like you didn't have disagreements. You had many disagreements. Throughout that film, which I thought was very, as I said, honest, how did you navigate those clashes with him?

18:04How did you make it through? Two hours later, they were gone. So you go back to normal life. It became part of the life, like you shave in the morning. There is so many repetitions of the same scene that you don't really suffer anymore. In fact, in the show, it's not that somebody starts to cry. Not at all. In the documentary, part of what's being documented is when you and Mr. Valentino first sold your business and then it ended up with Mr. Marzotto and then it ended up with Permira over the course of that documentary. Talk to me about the decision to sell the business and how that felt. And, you know, you were referring earlier to the moment when you and Mr.

18:55Valentino started to lose all of the control. And at one stage, you said, you know, basta. Why did it start? Because there were so many offers at a certain time, you know. And I've been always very keen to listen to those offers. I don't know. We started much earlier in the end of the 70s, 60s. We sold the company to an American company called Kenton, where two entrepreneurs, Mr. Kenmore and other, bought several brand. And he bought Cartier for America, Valentino, Ben Khan, which for years, very important. Fake jewelry was super cool at the time. I don't remember the name now. So he tried to make like really like today's Elvin Marsh or something like this.

19:58I said I didn't have the money. So he bought Valentino. And then they start not to pay the store. So my lawyer got me back without the business. So I was always a bit tempted to listen. Also, I felt very lonely sometimes in my sight. I thought that having great company, great people inside, would help me navigate and expand. And I was quite disappointed in that all my life. So, Marzotto came and if you watch the documentary, you saw how unhappy Valentino was of that because they were coming and saying, you know, the collection is great, but we need another six skirt or 12. I don't produce like this.

20:55I don't want to do it. So, little by little, then they had their own problems, financial. They had to bring inside the other people, per mira, all that. Then was the time that we say, why should we be here in this carousel? And even, you know, back then, this whole idea of private equity companies, you know, finance people coming into the industry, that was quite new. When you look at the industry today, it's changed so much, right? The business side of the fashion industry is really dictating and driving so many of the decisions. When you see how fashion works today, what do you think about it?

21:38I think it's difficult. It will be much more difficult for me to be here now in fashion business. I wouldn't know. And this continuous change of people, using people to cover jobs because that job doesn't go well. So I took another designer, put it in, and then I took another CEO and put it over there. Makes a bit of confusion, and no one of them really becomes part of the legacy of the company. That's what is a big problem today. The designers become their own star. They have their own style and they don't want to really become a witness of the work of the company where they are hired to launch the life.

22:35We have many of them and I really understand why. Because Valentino was a star maybe before many other stars in the world. Valentino, Saint Laurent and then Holston. All those became a personage. Very important. Here, everybody who did the two collections are already on the cover of this and talk like they know the business forever. And this makes a certain discrepancy between what they should do and what they are. They want to work for themselves. They don't work for the companies. Do you think they're disrespectful of the heritage of these great houses like Valentino, all these like historical houses.

23:32So you're saying that the designers are kind of transcending the history of these houses. Yeah. I think sometimes it's not just negative, it's offensive. Offensive? Yeah. Do you think creating a brand like Valentino today would be possible? You tell me how many brands were created saying since i don't know the last one i remember is a valley or maybe jackie mousse is the only one why of course it is very difficult because i don't think that the big

24:15conglomerate want to put money on somebody new they want to make strength on their own portfolio the names they have and they saw the change designer over there but to invest in one talent I haven't seen anything don't forget that in the 70s you know just Valentino ten years earlier my cello a car who was a more a traveler between different houses, but still it was his own big name. And then all the other, all the other man, all the Italians, I mean, all create. The last 10 years, I haven't seen any. Why do you think that is? I ask you. I mean, I think the business side of fashion has become so important.

25:12I think that the brands are so big that it's hard for young designers to emerge. And I think sometimes about the cost that that's going to have on our industry for the future. You know, I think about if we don't nurture smaller creative talents and businesses today, what will fashion look like 10, 20 years from now? that's exactly that's what worries me when they and when they ask me i i don't know what answer and this place is also to educate young designer young artist and we have to see how not just educate or just talk or do master class or workshop or whatever. How can we help them to acquire the strength that was not me who gave it to Valentino, but they have to conceive inside them and explore and expand.

26:23going to talk to big conglomerate and tell I have this designer who really needs help, needs, you have to believe in him. Difficult, difficult, difficult, difficult. And they say, oh, I would like to have a Jammeet in my life. What? Jammeet wouldn't do what he did at the time. We'll be right back with more on the BOF podcast.

27:00So it kind of brings us to the foundation. You started with Mr. Valentino, the foundation in 2016. 17, 16, 17. Yeah. And the motto was beauty creates beauty, right? The whole idea of preserving the heritage, the stories, the essential pieces of this wonderful house. I mean, what were your goals in creating the foundation? In part, was it to kind of leave a legacy? For sure. This was the most important of the project we need in the foundation, but there are others. Like I told you before, there is the education part. And every big show like this one, there will be a smaller show where it will be dedicated to education.

28:02Next one probably will be with a very known artist who she will bring here her own studio. And she will do the work that she does inside for everybody to look and learn. So this is a second part. And then there is a very important part, which is the charity, charitable part. We are working very hard to help young children and older people. And we are in fact building quite credible building inside the biggest hospital in Rome, the Ambin Gesù, where there is no large place where children and their family can wait to be visited, because the first aid is very, very small. So there is this huge courtyard where they are sitting there in winter or summer without protection.

29:10So we are covering that with a nice pavilion. And of course, the biggest hospital in Rome is Gemelli. And Gemelli has always rooms done by us, machines done by us. Yes. And now I have an idea about the charity. Because I think that at our age, older people are facing difficult to understand what they have to do. Because everything is digital. I have to get my retreat and I have to compose some numbers, codes, and I don't know how to use a computer. And my son is not here. And my wife doesn't understand it like I don't understand. What do I do? What do I do to cover my health if everything has to be a bottom?

30:10Yeah. So that's what I'm thinking I'm going to do. It's like not a school, but a place where older people don't have access because their family is not there or whatever, can go, have the work done or the work even they can teach. Like digital education? 80 years old? Yeah. Go to school? Yeah. Nice. In the time of the digital era, when everything is moving so quickly, when everything is so fast-paced, how do you preserve the timelessness of beauty like this? It's a different narrative. I hate fashion museums. I think that to see all the mannequins like Madame Tussauds look really like wax things.

31:12I don't think there is a life inside. So I think the digital work, you have to work with that work to project your legacy in a different way. And this was very normal for us because we always thought about fashion and art as the main things that inspire us. Valentino never made, except the exception, any clothes inspired by a great designer. But he did, of course, some design of Hoffman, some of the camouflage of Warhol, but not like many others did in an amazing way. No, but the passion was there. And the first thing that we bought was there. And I remember that Fontana with one cut in white.

32:19And the Artboro Gallery told me, you should have it at the entire money. I say, okay, let me see. You should have it. And then six months from now, I say, a little for the double. I say, okay. So I took the place, this beautiful white fontana with one cut, right? And go home. I was still living with my father and mother. And my father said, when do you open it? He thought it was the box inside that would be the painting. And this is the beginning of our passion for art. Let's talk a little bit about the opening exhibition, because the exhibition and the foundation opened just over the weekend.

33:08You created this permanent home, and this exhibition is called Horizons Red. I mean, clearly we can see, you know, the red, Valentino Red is everywhere here. You've curated it with a bunch of art pieces, but maybe the most important piece from Mr. Valentino's heritage is this fiesta dress. which I think is the birth of the whole idea of Valentino. Can you tell us a little bit about why the story of this dress and why it's such an important part of the kind of heritage? It was really the beginning of Valentino because when I met him in July, he did show this dress at the end of 59. So it was very much there and the few clients that we had all wanted this dress.

34:06And when I asked Valentino what is so special in this dress that became such a symbol of his work, And he told me that he learned this little, petite, how can I say, composition that becomes a flower from a dress that Mr. Dessay, Jean Dessay, Valentino Walt, did it for Maria Felix, the famous Mexican actress. and there was a completely different proportion but he learned there how the tulle can became like a draping and I think what is interesting even strangely he didn't repeat very much of this dress even in the rows are part of course of his work but I remember very well also because it is exactly when I met him so So I was around this dress all the time.

35:16And then you've selected and worked to curate the museum with a, or the foundation rather, with so many different art pieces. Do you have any favorites? Like, what are the pieces here that mean the most to you personally?

35:35Just behind you, maybe, the little Picasso, which is the earlier of war. It describes so much, not just the color red, but the attitude of the figurative expression of a woman is really incredibly strong. It's the only figurative we have with a Marlene Dumas, other woman. Yes, true. No, it was fun, it was difficult, it was exciting to find where the most important pieces in red inspired by the red color, great artists, where they were. So we made a lot of research, every museum, but mostly, believe it or not, are from private collection. There is very little from museums. And at the moment, then the rumor that I was looking for red, start to go around.

36:48So people call me, I have a great red look. They offer me that Clifford Still, which is quite incredible. It's acting this way. I know that you're looking for red. What about this? Oh, how big is this? Three meters by three. I say, okay, yes, yes, yes. Absolutely. So how does it feel? Because you've been working on this foundation for a long time. When it opened over the weekend, I'm sure it was very emotional for you to have everybody here to finally unveil this to the public. How are you feeling? The most important emotion was when Valentino came to this area. Valentino does work well. So he doesn't want to be seen on a wheelchair.

37:32That's all the secret for which he's not here every moment. This was an emotion. All the rest was a great excitement because everybody seems to like the show, which was what I really wanted. So let's talk a little bit about the future. with the foundation now open, with the legacy secured. I mean, what do you hope this foundation will offer to people in the years to come, even after you and Mr. Valentino aren't here to show people around? First time to find the people who will help people, but definitely this principle of the foundation is very clear. It is based on education, protection of the legacy and charity.

38:33So this is very, very, very well understood, well explained to our successor or to the board, to the advisory board. So I hope that this is going to be always the keys to the future. I also wanted to ask your advice for young creative people working today who want to work in fashion. I know, as we've discussed, the industry is very different. It's become a big business. But for people who want to build something special that lasts, build a partnership that lasts, what advice do you have to offer to them? it's so easy to say me yourself don't let don't have people teach it that tell you what to do don't listen to to podcasts don't read the paper don't look at television to see the show somebody else because you cannot get distracted you have to believe in yourself and do what you want Is this a possibility today?

39:54I'm not sure. But that's what I would like to see. And to have energy, sustained energy over a lifetime. I mean, I've been watching and observing you these past few days that we've been here. You have so much energy. Really? Where does it come from that you're still so driven and so curious? and so energetic. How can I be that way? No, in the future. How do you keep it for so long? There is no medication, unfortunately. It's my passion, my respect for what I have to do, I respect for the people who approach us, and gratitude for so many friends and who came to see us. Like, how can you have a better stimulant, can you say that, than pride and happiness?

40:59So that's the secret. Just surround yourself with people who support you and who sustain you. And for Mr. Valentino, how is he today? You just said earlier he doesn't want to be seen anymore. No, he's perfectly well. Health well is perfect. It's just a problem that he doesn't move the same way that he did. Okay. And for him, he prefer to stay calm and listen to me tell him at night what happened in the day. So you still talk to him every day? Yeah, I'm a bit early than before. Yeah. Around 8 o 'clock, but it is, of course, twice a day. Okay, well, I'm really grateful for having this time with you.

41:47I love it, so good to you. It's really special what you and Mr. Valentino have created. And I hope that it sets an example for people who are trying to create something that lasts. The thing that I think is still present in fashion, even if everything has changed, is we have so many talented young people. and I hope that they can look to what you and Mr. Valentino have created as an example, even if the industry has changed, because the true test of creating legacy is something that lasts forever. And I think you've done that. So thank you on behalf of the industry and on behalf of everybody. Thank you for what you've left behind.

42:30Thank you very much. I appreciate it. The BOF podcast is edited and produced by Olivia Davies and Eric Bria. You