Valentino Garavani may have retired from fashion design nearly four years ago, but he certainly is keeping busy with a groundbreaking new way to execute fashion exhibitions. On December 5, the fashion legend will unveil the Valentino Garavani Virtual Museum, a game-changing virtual initiative that it the first of its kind.
Instead of waiting in line for up to three hours, as Met Museum visitors eager to see “Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty” did over the summer, users can browse through the virtual exhibition of Valentino's designs from the comfort of a computer. Entrance to the virtual display is available through a downloadable desktop application connected to an online database that uses real-time 3-D technology. The carefully curated selection of Valentino's work consists of over 300 dresses — each with accompanying ad campaigns, illustrations, editorials, and red carpet photography — spread over virtual galleries that would make up a hefty 32,808-square-foot of museum space in real life (about the size the new Whitney Museum has planned for its rotating exhibitions and permanent collection).
“I see it as part of my legacy,” Valentino told WWD. “I am happy that thousands of students, young designers and fashion people will be able to see and study my work in every aspect of it, and in a manner easy and accessible for the younger generations. But it is also important to remember things of the past, to review the fashion that has shaped our lives. I would call it ‘Future Memory.’”
Created by Valentino’s longtime partner Giancarlo Giammeti — who was inspired to start the project after seeing the Web site for Pennsylvania’s Barnes Foundation — and designed and produced by Novacom Associés-Paris, in collaboration with Kinmonth-Monfreda Design Project in London, the virtual exhibition offers panoramic access to Valentino’s 50-year career.
The Web site, valentino-garavani-archives.org will allow a sneak peek until the museum’s official debut through an online video. Back in the physical world, Valentino and Giammetti will celebrate the museum with a real party at the IAC Headquarters in New York on December 7.
Capitalizing on the wild success of “Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty” and the numerous other fashion exhibitions around the world that featured designers like Cristóbal Balenciaga, Jean Paul Gaultier, Hussein Chalayan, Madame Grès, and more, Valentino is taking the recent trend to another level. When users can view dresses up close and from 360 degrees, scanning every stitch and detail, the Valentino Garavani Virtual Museum may be even better than the real thing.