“If you want to have clean ideas, change them like shirts,” the French modernist Francis Picabia used to say. It’s a message that Valentino co-founder Giancarlo Giammetti — a lifelong lover of art and art collecting himself — has always taken to heart.
That spirit could be one reason the opening of his and Valentino Garavani’s new cultural space in Rome has remained somewhat of a moving target. “I’m famous for changing my mind,” Giammetti said. Nonetheless, plans for a new museum from the Valentino Garavani and Giancarlo Giammetti Foundation (FVG) are coming into focus.
After a lengthy renovation, a building at Piazza Mignanelli, 23 — steps from Valentino’s headquarters — will reopen in May as “PM23,” the foundation’s centre for art and fashion exhibitions as well as workshops, screenings, artist residencies and other cultural events, Giammetti said.
Lucia Milazzotto has been brought on as the CEO of PM23, whose programming will be dedicated to the notion that “beauty creates beauty.”
“Beauty has always been our guiding light and deepest inspiration. We have devoted our
lives to celebrating it, uncovering its infinite nuances, and sharing it with the world,” Garavani and Giammetti said in a statement.
While Garavani and Giammetti are both prolific collectors themselves, the museum’s role won’t be to show off their personal collections.
Giammetti wouldn’t disclose many details of the brand’s inaugural exhibition, but said it would be focused on the post-modern period, with lenders from around the world contributing major works from “from Bacon to Basquiat.”
Art historian Anna Coliva (longtime director of the Galleria Borghese) will curate the show in tandem with Pamela Golbin, former chief curator of the Fashion and Textile Department at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris.
Fondazione Valentino Garavani e Giancarlo Giammetti was established in 2016, and previously focused on charitable works supporting two Roman hospitals and a theatre in Voghera.
The inauguration of the Piazza Mignanelli centre sees them pick back up where an initial foray into cultural programming left off nearly three decades ago: Starting in 1990, Garavani and Giammetti hosted exhibitions in the same building under the name of “Accademia Valentino,” including a monograph for Polish-French artist Balthus and a fashion retrospective covering the brand’s first three decades in business.
Following the sale of their company to Gianni Agnelli’s HdP fund in 1998, the building was leased as offices in addition to housing the brand’s archive in its basement.
Garavani and Giammetti remained closely involved with the brand following its sale. Garavani continued to design its collections until 2008, following which both remained fixtures at the brand’s runway shows and events. Since the 1970s, the pair has also been known for their jet-set lifestyle, glamorous homes and close ties to movie stars and royals.
In recent seasons Garavani, aged 92, has stepped back from public life. “He is well, but he doesn’t walk well,” Giammetti explained. “This is why he prefers to leave representing us in the world to me.”
As for how Valentino, the brand (now owned by Mayhoola and Kering), and its creative director Alessandro Michele are doing at preserving the pair’s legacy, “whoever is the new creative director, I feel l have to support them and give our blessing,” Giammetti said. “Our legacy isn’t about clothes, it’s about relationships, our life, our lifestyle maybe. There’s a lot to be able to fish from.”
