More details of "The Most Glamorous Fashion Show Ever..."

We reported earlier in the day that Sarah Jessica Parker had called the Valentino 45th anniversary Celebration ''The Most Glamorous Fashion Show ever." While here at CharmFlakes, we maintain that every fashion show is a glamorous affair, we couldn't help but be bowled over by the emerging details from Rome of the glorious event. Friday Night brought together the most famous of the famed for a dinner in honor of Valentino, 300 people dining alfresco. The site was the ruins of Venus' Temple, in Old Rome, which had been reconstructed carefully to embody old Roman Times by renowned set designer, Dante Ferretti. He carefully added lighting rivaling that of the Parthenon in Athens, and created a mood that was La Dolce Vita to say the least.

The Temple of Venus et Roma with Coliseum in background

We love the eloquent description in the London Times, which reads,

As an obligingly picturesque lemon-slice moon rose across the inky sky, the columns gave off a ghostly glow. Italian opera struck up and from nowhere classical ballerinas suspended from invisible wires began to pirouette above the Roman traffic against the floodlit backdrop of the Coliseum. ...No wonder that there is now talk of the city keeping the floodlit columns as a permanent attraction.

The evening will be a high-water mark for all fashionistas and as an Italian-American, I must say I felt a surge of Pride in my Eternal City. It was a celebration befitting a king, and Valentino is the King of Glamorous Fashion.

The End of Our Affair With Valentino

Valentino's story reads better than a Charles Dickens novel. A little boy with a big dream makes it all happen and becomes one of the finest ateliers in Fashion History. Leaving your visible mark on Twenty-First and Twentieth Century fahsions isn't easy, and after all, Valentino had plenty of company, Saint Laurent, Tom Ford, Chanel, Lagerfeld, Dior, Balenciaga; they all left their marks. Valentino was being honored in Rome this weekend, with the guest list at the lavish parties reading like a who's who of style-setters. Claudia Schiffer, Joan Collins, Royalty, Anna Wintour, and Sarah Jessica Parker all set in on the show, which was held in historic Roman Venues all weekend. The celebration fueled rumors that Valentino would be retiring, since the Ateliers usually on celebrate fiftieth anniversaries instead of the peculiar 45 one. Valentino maintains that he is not set to retire, but Permira, an italian investment fund bought out a majority stake in the stocks at the fashion house, which may lead to Valentino being booted to Creative Director. Nevertheless, the show was dazzling in it's immediacy and details, and led Sarah Jessica Parker to call it, "the most glamorous fashion show of all time."