Word: valentino
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...have their clothes, but then that is a matter of taste. By choosing to absent themselves from their home turf, Valentino and Gigli have sent the kind % of political signal that is beyond debate: Paris is fashion central, and Milan is just a big backyard. This is not news to the French, of course, who responded to the story of the traveling Italians with the kind of equanimity that barely skirts smugness. "Paris is still No. 1 in fashion," says Jacques Mouclier, president of the Chambre Syndicale, which sponsors the twice-yearly ready-to-wear fashion shows held...
Perhaps not. Gigli and Valentino have already said plenty. "I don't believe in frontiers," reflects Gigli. Explains Carla Sozzani, a business associate of the designer's: "Romeo's all for 1992 and a united Europe." Valentino has announced some similar geopolitical aims. "I am going to Paris as an Italian designer to speak for Italy," he says. "I will never betray my country, but I need the challenge to do better." Elaborates Giancarlo Giammetti, Valentino's partner: "Rome is becoming a very provincial market, and it's simply not stimulating the creator...
...Creator may have finished his big job in six days, but Giammetti's creator works full time to fuel his fashion empire (estimated wholesale haul for 1989: $600 million), and has for some time been trying to seem like an internationalist. Valentino's ready-to-wear has been on view in Paris for the past 14 years without attracting a commotion. Gigli is looking for an imprimatur, separating himself from the excellent elegances of Milan in favor of the more experimental company in Paris. The intrepid Japanese designers show their stuff in Paris; so do the haut trendies like Jean...
...other hand, can still offer a wider spectrum: sumptuous Saint Laurent, engaging Lagerfeld, generative Miyake, fast-flash Gaultier, ebullient Patrick Kelly. As ever, it is center stage, the arena on which designers want most to play, especially if they are coming on (like Gigli) or consolidating (like Valentino...
...part, Valentino was playing the diplomat. "It's a great joy for me to show in Paris," he said. "I'll certainly still show in Rome, but couture is my metier, and I learned it in Paris. But I always keep my Italian accent when speaking French, and so do my clothes." By the time some State Department of Fashion has worked out all the coded signals and careful contradictions in that dispatch, the dust will have settled. There is always a lot of it around during fashion season anyway, especially when the clothes aren't good enough to clear...