The Thousands

I always thought Valentino was his surname, so clearly I had much to learn about Signor Garavani. Luckily, Matt Tyrnauer’s very funny documentary paints an intimate portrait of this wizened Oompa-Loompa as he prepares to celebrate 45 years in haute couture. Valentino’s lavish 2007 knees-up turns out to have been his swan song – he retired in 2008, leaving his eponymous label in corporate hands.

Just as Wintour has her Coddington, Valentino has Giacomo Giammetti, his partner in business and in life. The two have spent almost every day of the last 45 years together, and their interactions are a joy to watch.Valentino is a peevish and enigmatic diva who’ll tantrum at almost all Giacomo’s level-headed suggestions, but they obviously care for each other. Together, they make fashion magic happen.

The film is also an absorbing peek inside an old-fashioned couture atelier, where gowns are stitched painstakingly by hand and paraded on a terrifyingly emaciated house model. There’s a lovely sequence in which Valentino and Karl Lagerfeld tour Valentino’s anniversary exhibition, and Lagerfeld is like, “Yo Val-dawg, nobody can step to this except you and me, aight?”Well. I’m paraphrasing.