Word: emperor
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...most convincing argument for keeping Lewis in his job is that he is now recognized as the Emperor without any clothes. Whatever hubris he had about the success of his tenure running Bank of America has been removed. He may be the most focused large company chief executive in the country facing crushing pressure from his board, shareholders and the federal government. His actions are confined by all of these groups monitoring his decisions 24 hours a day. If his board can keep him from media appearances where he always talks about how much he regrets taking TARP money...
Today's moguls, then, differ only in degree from the prolific breeders of the past, such as Moulay Ismail the Bloodthirsty, Emperor of Morocco, who produced at least 700 sons (people stopped counting after that) and an untold number of daughters before he died in the early 17th century. One big reason today's powerful men don't have as many kids as they could is a relatively new invention that our reproductive instincts haven't had time to adapt to: contraception. (See pictures of classic stars' families at LIFE.com...
...commodities. Other designers might reflect the hustle (without the bustle) of contemporary life - Lacroix, sweetie. Valentino didn't make statements; he made dresses, as he proclaimed, "for women who actually wear them." A warming elegance was his trademark: la belle, la perfectly swell romance. This ethereal chic served the emperor and his clients well for ages; one journalist calls him "the only designer in the world who's managed to last 45 years." But not 46. Two years ago, at 75, Valentino was abruptly retired by Permira, the private equity group that had bought the company...
...emperor might never have succeeded if not for his prime minister: Giancarlo Giammetti, who from the beginning ran the business, ran interference, made the deals and, for much of their 45 years, was Valentino's lover. They met in a cafe on the Via Veneto in 1960, the year Federico Fellini's La Dolce Vita made that street famous, and established Rome as the Mecca and Gomorrah of European society. (Nino Rota's music from La Dolce Vita and other Fellini films ornaments the sound track.) Valentino had just come from Paris to open a salon; Giammetti was still...
...accommodating a man whose certainty can sound like petulance. ("People have to be on their knees in front of me," the master says.) It's no small challenge, Giammetti tells Tyrnauer, "to be with Valentino as a friend, as a lover, as an employee." He must deliver the emperor's whims to others: "Valentino says, 'If the bathrooms are set up like that, I'm not coming.'" At times the boss is ready to wave the whole business away with his expressive hands. "I don't care about the collection," he fumes. "My dogs are much more important...