Giancarlo Giammetti, Financial Times
Alice Zoo photographs Giancarlo Giammetti, Co-Founder of legendary Italian fashion house Valentino, and right hand man to couturier Valentino Garavani.
"I’m on Giancarlo Giammetti’s sofa in Knightsbridge, sitting beneath three vast Francis Bacons. The next day he is scheduled to accept the Outstanding Achievement Award at the British Fashion Awards on behalf of his long-term business partner, the 91-year-old couturier Valentino Garavani. “Those aren’t actually a triptych,” he says, gesturing at the impressive and contorted figures behind us. “I bought them individually and put them together.” Elsewhere there are giant Cy Twomblys and a larger-than-life silver silkscreened Elvis.
Giammetti has made a career out of putting things together to dramatic effect, most notably one of the most successful fashion businesses in history. It began when he met a talented but free-spending 28-year-old ingénue Garavani in Rome in 1960 — a charmed meeting of fresh design and business smarts. “I’m not famous for being nice,” smiles an absolutely charming Giammetti, who helped Garavani cut costs at the start. “I wanted to make sure Valentino wasn’t disturbed from his vision. That’s how he became what he became."
