Collecting six decades of haute couture from the legendary Italian fashion house, the book is as luxurious as the designs themselves, featuring a special ribbon closure and various papers and pull-out spreads. From beginning to end, 350 color photographs show and tell a history of beauty, daring and drama—beginning with a history of Valentino Red, and spanning the full range of custom couture for clients including Zendaya, Lady Gaga, Anne Hathaway, Jackie Kennedy, Gwyneth Paltrow, Elizabeth Taylor, Angelina Jolie, Jennifer Lopez and HRH Princess Diana of Wales, to name just a few. Not just dresses but shoes, necklaces, bags, gloves, ornamental headpieces and masks make appearances, and being honest—the work truly is thrilling to behold. “Contrary to popular belief, the archives of great fashion houses are not dusty repositories but rather living, breathing spaces, electric with the dynamic energy of past triumphs, ready to inspire future creation, and poised to tell their own stories,” the editors write. “They can also be enigmatic, specially devised to conceal their artefacts in order to protect them. Looking through the history of a fashion house is a thrilling voyage of discovery and rediscovery, one usually closely guarded and offered to a chosen few.”
