Valentino: Spring 2008 Ready-to-Wear

[modern music]

No this is not a celebration.

This is just a final collectsion,

it's party time

the girls are happy,

Valentino very serene

and happy.

Valentino's weekend long party in Rome in July

was a celebration of his 45 years in fashion.

But today is the real good-bye

This is his last ready to wear show.

And he was saying new things here.

It's an odd sensation to be witnessing the farewell

of a man who clearly has a lot left to say.

We're feeling very very sad

but actually it's a party.

It's just an end of a moment.

An end of a 45 year moment.

[runway music]

I think Valentino's genius is he never tries

to reinvent himself.

For Valentino's it's been good enough

to love what you do

and make beautiful dresses.

You can build up a Valentino wardrobe

and team things from one season to another

without them looking like you've seen them all before.

[Interviewer] Imagine a fashion world without Valentino.

It's a chapter closed of real fashion.

[Interviewer] What are you gonna wear now?

I have Valentino vintage.

Sad moment to know it's his last collectsion really

but the house will carry on.

But no one will ever replace Mr. Valentino.

[runway music]

[Interviewer] That was really such a great collectsion

that cannot be good-bye.

If you know you're gonna be designing your last show

you're gonna pull it out.

He wanted this to be festive moment,

not something that felt like a requiem of any kind.

He's going out on top

showing that the strength of the aesthetic

that he's set up for his house

is that it has this kind of timeless quality to it.

Where a lot of those dresses

he could have made 15 years ago,

he could probably make 10 years in the future.

[Linda Fargo] Think about the energy,

even the way they staged it,

I mean the girls came out on force.

[Interviewer] That might be his way of saying to

his successor- beat that.

[Linda Fargo] Oh yes, these are big shoes to step into.

You can see in this show,

that he probably has a lot more to say.

Fashion is no different than any other business.

You know, he is 75.

Someone new has to come along.

[Interviewer] Picasso painted til he was 90.

You know Matisse who in his, what was it

late 80s, 90s,

dipped a broom in paint

and did some of the greatest work of his life.

I think you know, it's a real lesson

which is when you got it, you got it.

I can't believe that it's going

to be the last show either.

Because it, really it was so good,

and there were so many good looks.

[Interviewer] You know what if you had

his home phone number

maybe he'll do stuff for you later.

On the days that he feels like it

he's gonna sketch.

So my feeling is there's gonna be a couple of tailors

hidden in the bathroom

and they're still gonna be making dresses.

[Interviewer] The clothes you were doing there

the way you were using sheer in those clothes

that was a new thing for you.

That means you've got a lot left to do in fashion.

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

Bad to know.

As I'm saying bye,

I want to leave when the party's through.

No?

It's much better?

[Interviewer] The party's swinging.

[modern music]