FASHION

What do Claudia Schiffer, Jackie Kennedy and Gwyneth Paltrow have in common? They've all been dressed and befriended by couturier Valentino, who this summer celebrates the 45th anniversary of his label. To mark the event, a series of events will take place in Rome, kicking off with the opening of a Valentino retrospective at the Ara Pacis Museum, followed by a couture show (his first in the city for 17 years) to which 1,000 glamourous guests have been invited. A book published by Taschen, titled 'A Great Italian Story', will also go on sale. At a press conference given in Rome last week, Valentino said, 'Celebrating such an important achievement in the only city in which I genuinely feel at home makes me very happy. Here in Rome I opened my first atelier, here...were my first successes.' Valentino is retiring later this year.

Every show by John Galliano feels like a celebration - and, on the tenth anniversary of his appointment as creative director at the house of Christian Dior, which also coincides with the 60th anniversary of the house itself, the bar was certainly high as A-list fans including Juliette Binoche, Monica Bellucci, Sophia Coppola, Marisa Berenson and Kate Hudson flocked to the Versailles Orangerie to see just how so many momentous moments would be translated onto the Couture catwalk. Galliano does not do disappointment. His collection was not, as expected, an homage to Dior's groundbreaking New Look of 1947, but rather referenced the legendary designer's art-world influences. Guests were treated to a visual onslaught of the most lavish creations, modelled by names only a designer of Galliano's stature can command - Helena Christensen, Linda Evangelista, Naomi Campbell, Gisele, Amber Valetta, Stella Tennant and Karen Mulder amongst them - as Caravaggio, El Greco, Monet, Renoir and Cocteau were reimagined in bustles, silks, embroidery, feathers and devastatingly elegant black velvet. The show, which was dedicated to Galliano's right-hand man, Steven Robinson, who died earlier this year, has certainly raised the stakes in Paris as Chanel, Christian Lacroix and Givenchy prepare to take to the runways today - the front row no doubt recuperating quietly after last night's blow-out black tie Dior party.