Valentino ─ Master of Couture: A Private View

Valentino: Master of Couture is an exhibition at the Somerset House co-organized by Valentino himself, who selected over 130 dresses for the exhibition.

The book focues as much on Valentino and his glamorous lifestyle as it does on his legendary dressmaking techniques and atelier. (The overwhelming success of Matt Tyrnauer’s film Valentino: The Last Emperor attests to the public’s hunger for “behind the scenes” glimpses of Valentino’s life).

The designers had unprecedented access to Valentino’s personal archive, and the selected visual material includes personal photographs of and by Valentino and his close circle (often with glamorous women such as Jackie O., Elizabeth Taylor, Lee Radziwill, and the like) in his art-filled homes and at social events, giving the book the feel of a personal album and the viewer access to a unique life.

The catalog also includes two photographic portfolios by Deborah Turbeville and Cathleen Naundorf, showing Valentino at work. A number of dresses in the exhibition sprinkled throughout the catalog rounds out this intimate look at the life of a design legend.

Valentino is the pope of Italian high fashion.

Claire Catterall is a curator at The Somerset House.

Alistair O'Neill is a fashion expert and the co-curator of the accompanying exhibition.

Patrick Kinmonth is an acclaimed exhibition designer and the co-curator of the accompanying exhibition.