With retirement looming, Valentino stages last fashion show

PARIS – Italian fashion giant Valentino staged his last ever ready-to-wear show, winning a standing ovation Wednesday from his supporters and a reprimand from fellow designer Karl Lagerfeld, who said it was too early for the designer to retire.\nWednesday’s show is not quite Valentino’s last hurrah – a final haute couture display is scheduled to take place in Paris in January. But the emotions were palpable as he blinked back tears on the catwalk, and backstage there was hardly a dry eye.\n“I want to stop at the height of my glory,” the 75-year-old designer told reporters. “I want to have a bit of fun because I have spent my life stuck in couture houses drawing hundreds and hundreds of sketches every season.”\nHaving celebrated his 45 years in fashion with three days of glittering celebrations in Rome, Valentino announced last month that he will retire in 2008. Alessandra Facchinetti, the former designer of Gucci women’s ready-to-wear, has been appointed to replace him.\nValentino said he wanted his penultimate collection to be young and joyful as a tribute to all his fans.\nTo a thumping soundtrack of Prince songs, models stepped out in flirty cocktail dresses scattered with polka dots and gold bows. Blocks of color formed graphic patterns that had an upbeat ‘80s feel, while a print of oversized arum lilies added a romantic touch.\nFashion editors and retailers praised the legendary designer, who dressed luminaries including Jackie Kennedy and Gwyneth Paltrow.\n“It’s very emotional; he’s such an iconic designer, such an important part of fashion history,” said Ken Downing, senior vice president and fashion director for department store chain Neiman Marcus.\nLagerfeld lamented Valentino’s decision to stop.\n“I am not very pleased because I think it is not good that he’s stopping; he is in great shape,” he told reporters after showing his Karl Lagerfeld ready-to-wear line earlier in the day. “He should continue. It’s no fun; he will be bored.”\nValentino was insisting for months that he had no plans to retire, but the purchase of the Valentino Fashion Group – which owns his label – by private equity firm Permira may have influenced his decision.\nThe designer said he would take time to travel and perhaps design costumes for opera and ballet – he already has plans for a collaboration with the famed Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg, Russia. He also is planning the creation of a foundation to house his creations.\nLagerfeld, 69, said he had no intention of stepping down in turn from his multiple roles as creative director of the Lagerfeld, Chanel and Fendi brands.\n“All my contracts are for life, so I am like a death row inmate,” he joked.\nWhile Christian Dior and Valentino have staged lavish anniversary celebrations this year, Lagerfeld barely acknowledged the passing of his 25th year at Chanel. He joined the firm in 1982.\n“There were never any celebrations, there will never be any – I hate that,” he said.\n“Fashion is about today and tomorrow, not about yesterday. If you have to be taken seriously because you have a heavy past, I don’t think it’s a good thing,” he said. “I don’t want to remember, I want to do things and go ahead.”