Fashion, fierceness, and the funniest bickering Italian couture moguls still standing.  

Valentino, The Last Emperor, follows the Italian King of Couture in his last year designing for the legendary fashion house. Centred around his 45th anniversary party outside the Roman Coliseum, the film follows Valentino and his business partner, old friend, and sometimes lover Giancarlo Giametti through a circus of fittings, fashion shows, fabulous parties, and calling each other fat. The protaganist and those that surround him, including Andre Leon Talley and Karl Lagerfeld, are rendered with humour, honesty, and respect. The audience is let into Valentino’s show room and boardroom, and we see, behind the scenes, the painstaking dedication it takes to craft a couture gown, and the heartbreaking realities of conglomerate politics. As the film progresses, Valentino reminisces about dressing icons like Jackie O., revisits some of his favourite gowns to display at the anniversary celebration, and bickers with GIancarlo about everything from the cafe where they first met to the sand dunes at a runway show. The documentary is hilarious, and a little heartbreaking, as we watch a genius of fashion, the last real couturier, try to hold on to the company he created from the ground up. And the fashion, old and new, is fabulous. HC