Rome welcomed back Valentino Garavani, decking out a historic museum with his sweeping gowns and restoring an ancient temple by the Colosseum to host festivities celebrating the Italian designer.
Though it was once the undisputed capital of la dolce vita, Rome is no longer Italy's fashion capital and the city has been quick to capitalise on Valentino's big name status.
The designer was allowed to pick the city's monuments he fancied as settings for his parties and a list of Italian dignitaries have paid tribute to his role in putting Italy at the top of global fashion.
Valentino marked his 45th year as a designer with a catwalk show and decadent galas in the city where he opened his first atelier in the 1960s.
Valentino reminded a crowd of movie A-listers and top designers why he has dressed the stars for nearly half a century with a haute couture show conceived as a crescendo to his anniversary extravaganza on Saturday.
It was the centrepiece of three days of parties attracting the kind of slew of stars usually reserved for the Academy Awards.
Giorgio Armani, Karl Lagerfeld, Donatella Versace and Tom Ford joined movie stars Uma Thurman and Sarah Jessica Parker on the front row for a catwalk spectacular drawing on symbols of the Italian dolce vita - opera, glamorous gowns and gelato.
Valentino, famed for his lipstick red evening dresses, gave them a show wreathed with the opulence that has defined his career since he dressed Audrey Hepburn and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis in the 1960s.
At the show in a 12th century basilica near the Vatican, models wore day wear skirt suits webbed with lace work before switching into floor-skimming gowns glittering with diamante in blacks, whites, pastels and Valentino's signature red.
Fur, feathers and embroidery accentuated waists and shoulders while discs of chiffon on coats and sleeves lent the effect of scoops of ice cream.
"It was beautiful. I loved the ice cream dresses, the sorbet dresses. The pink and the purple ones were the best," said up-and-coming US designer Zac Posen, another front row guest.
Valentino, who has repeatedly denied the celebrations are a prelude to his retirement, closed the show in a white suit and in tears met by a standing ovation from the crowd and the strains of Giacomo Puccini's O Mio Babbino Caro.
"That seemed the show of a young man with a great future ahead of him," said Andre Leon Talley, US Vogue editor-at-large and a front row regular for 25 years.
The future for Valentino, now in his 70s, has been the subject of rumours in the run-up to event, which immediately followed Paris haute couture week.
Mick Jagger, Sienna Miller and Maggie Cheung joined revellers at the after-party in Rome's Villa Borghese.
Bald mannequins draped with Valentino's trademark evening gowns lined Rome's Ara Pacis museum as part of an exhibit on the designer's works that opened on Friday.
It also showed off old pencil sketches and 300 dresses made by the designer, including sequined and ruffled evening gowns worn by stars like Audrey Hepburn that first catapulted the designer to fame several decades ago.
"I love women and I love to make women look wonderful," Valentino said, adding that over the years he hated the grunge look because it was "outrageous" while the minimalism phase was an "offence" because it made women look like "little nuns".
Though it was once the undisputed capital of la dolce vita, Rome is no longer Italy's fashion capital and the city has been quick to capitalise on Valentino's big name status.
The designer was allowed to pick the city's monuments he fancied as settings for his parties and a list of Italian dignitaries have paid tribute to his role in putting Italy at the top of global fashion.
Valentino marked his 45th year as a designer with a catwalk show and decadent galas in the city where he opened his first atelier in the 1960s.
Valentino reminded a crowd of movie A-listers and top designers why he has dressed the stars for nearly half a century with a haute couture show conceived as a crescendo to his anniversary extravaganza on Saturday.
It was the centrepiece of three days of parties attracting the kind of slew of stars usually reserved for the Academy Awards.
Giorgio Armani, Karl Lagerfeld, Donatella Versace and Tom Ford joined movie stars Uma Thurman and Sarah Jessica Parker on the front row for a catwalk spectacular drawing on symbols of the Italian dolce vita - opera, glamorous gowns and gelato.
Valentino, famed for his lipstick red evening dresses, gave them a show wreathed with the opulence that has defined his career since he dressed Audrey Hepburn and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis in the 1960s.
At the show in a 12th century basilica near the Vatican, models wore day wear skirt suits webbed with lace work before switching into floor-skimming gowns glittering with diamante in blacks, whites, pastels and Valentino's signature red.
Fur, feathers and embroidery accentuated waists and shoulders while discs of chiffon on coats and sleeves lent the effect of scoops of ice cream.
"It was beautiful. I loved the ice cream dresses, the sorbet dresses. The pink and the purple ones were the best," said up-and-coming US designer Zac Posen, another front row guest.
Valentino, who has repeatedly denied the celebrations are a prelude to his retirement, closed the show in a white suit and in tears met by a standing ovation from the crowd and the strains of Giacomo Puccini's O Mio Babbino Caro.
"That seemed the show of a young man with a great future ahead of him," said Andre Leon Talley, US Vogue editor-at-large and a front row regular for 25 years.
The future for Valentino, now in his 70s, has been the subject of rumours in the run-up to event, which immediately followed Paris haute couture week.
Mick Jagger, Sienna Miller and Maggie Cheung joined revellers at the after-party in Rome's Villa Borghese.
Bald mannequins draped with Valentino's trademark evening gowns lined Rome's Ara Pacis museum as part of an exhibit on the designer's works that opened on Friday.
It also showed off old pencil sketches and 300 dresses made by the designer, including sequined and ruffled evening gowns worn by stars like Audrey Hepburn that first catapulted the designer to fame several decades ago.
"I love women and I love to make women look wonderful," Valentino said, adding that over the years he hated the grunge look because it was "outrageous" while the minimalism phase was an "offence" because it made women look like "little nuns".