Valentino Tells Fern Mallis What He Likes (And What He Doesn’t) At The 92Y

by Dena Silver

DOM PERIGNON supports Valentino at 92Y

Last night, Valentino Garavani continued his whirlwind press tour for his latest tome, Valentino: At The Emperor’s Table. And his latest appearance was way uptown at The 92Y, where he was grilled by Fern Mallis about everything and anything during one of her Fashion Icon chats. Although, The Emperor didn’t take well to all questions asked of him. “What?” He asked when Mallis inquired about his age. “I don’t understand you.” However, the one thing Valentino was very clear on, was what he liked, and what he absolutely did not like. So let’s break it all down for you…

Things Valentino Likes:
Beauty: “‘Beautiful things’ is a phrase I could repeat a thousand times. For me, beauty is very, very important. I love beauty and [it] has always been my religion.”

Animals: “I love animals, they are the greatest thing in the world after human beings. It’s a pity they don’t speak, because they have eyes like us.”

Sweets: “I eat a lot of chocolate.”

The fine arts: “Ballet is the most beautiful thing in the world.”

His staff: “They are perfect. They take care of every detail of my houses; of the glasses, of the china, of the flowers, of the table, everything.”

Meryl Streep: “You are all so lucky, that you are American, to have such an unbelievable actress. I love her because she’s a great actress and a great human being. She’s very simple. Sometimes she comes for lunch at my house and she loves to see the cook and ask for the recipes.”

Gisele Bündchen: “Gisele for me is the top of the top.”

Michelle Obama’s limbs: “I like Michelle Obama very much. Very, very much. She has the most beautiful arms in the world.”

And of course, himself: “I have to tell you that I think I am one of the happiest, luckiest and [most] fortunate person in the world. And sometimes, I ask myself, ‘Did you do something to get all these things?’ And of course, I say to myself, ‘Yes.'”

Things Valentino Doesn’t Like:
Waiting for anything: “I am not patient at all. If I have a desire, I must have something immediately.”

Explaining the importance of the color red for his label: “Ugh, If I had one million dollars for every time I explained this.”

Restaurants: “I don’t like restaurants, because I am very particular about food.”

The ’80s: “I go back to all my collections and I hated those dresses [in the ’80s]. They were out of proportion, with shoulders that didn’t belong to the dress. The hair was terrible, terrible. The shoes were not good. I never liked them. I loved the ‘40s, I loved the ‘50s, I loved the ‘60s very much. After the ‘80s I continued to like the ‘90s and the 2000’s.”

Hunting: “I was crazy for the English country, and I went to look at houses [there], but it didn’t work [out]. A friend of mine said to me, ‘In England, if you don’t hunt, nobody comes for the weekend. They just come here to shoot.’ I am against this, so I changed my mind.”

The color black: “I am not so enchanted when I see, in the streets, lots of people dressed in black. I don’t like this.”

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