Valentino Goes Down Under

The Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA), Brisbane will host, the much coveted exhibition “Valentino, Retrospective – Past/Present/Future” this year. Over 100 garments will be on show tracing the fashion giant’s career from 1959, with the opening of his Rome based fashion house, to his final collection in January 2008.

Managing to get permission to host this exhibition is a great coup for the Gallery. One of the highlights of the show will be the black-and-white vintage Valentino gown made famous by Julia Roberts. In 2001, Roberts wore this gown to the Oscars where she collected the award best-actress for her role as Erin Brockovich.

On hearing of the shows arrival the Premier of Queensland, Anna Bligh, confessed to being a huge fan of the designer. “Every woman in Australia will want to come to Brisbane to see Valentino’s dresses,” said Ms Bligh. Over the decades Valentino’s iconic dresses have been donned by generations of glamorous beauties including Elizabeth Taylor, Audrey Hepburn, Jacqueline Kennedy and Cate Blanchett, to name but a few.

Valentino, now 77 years old, has recently garnered much attention from the press having featured in a fly-on-the-wall documentary following his career in fashion. The film, “Valentino: The Last Emperor” was screened in the 2008 Venice and Toronto Film Festivals.

Speaking about his wonderful collection of gowns and on dressing the most stylish and beautiful women in the world Valentino said, “They knew how to wear a dress, how to make it come alive, how to give friendship to a garment. That for me is true elegance.”

The three month show will commence in August 2010.

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by Kate Hickey
Gloobbi Fashion

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