Opera Chic always had a weakness for Valentino, whom she always saw more than the genius of fashion that he really is as some sort of really tanned, really gay Italian great-great-uncle (a bit like Franco Zeffirelli -- they're Opera Chic's honorary Italian great-great-uncles). An unabashed lover of all beautiful things -- and obviously a big opera and ballet fan -- Valentino is considered, even in a business that has a not so distant relationship with wealth and elegance, as an unusual anthropological experiment -- a man whose life has been almost artificially deprived of everything that is not elegant or stylish -- a life without ugliness, a sort of Platonic ideal of cool.
Living like that, of course must be exhausting -- especially for those around you, as Matt Tyrnauer's documentary shows quite clearly. Tyrnauer answered Style.com's questions about his Valentino film.
We actually shot Martha in the movie. She went to visit him at this castle and that will be, I’m sure, a DVD extra. It’s Martha Stewart and Valentino walking around Valentino’s castle. I mean that’s a mini-movie right there.
The great man is actually going to be on Martha this coming Friday (the segment has already been taped). Be there (in front of the TV) or be lamé.