Valentino Garavani's retirement from his eponymous line has not been filled with idle hours. The designer and his partner Giancarlo Giammetti have dedicated themselves to preserving decades of Valentino creations in a virtual museum.
The extensive archives of the iconic Italian designer will soon be available to an online audience at the Valentino Garavani Virtual Museum.
The fashionable pair has long known that they wanted the archives to be accessible on the web, rather than in a single physical location. Their virtual undertaking has captured not only the designs but also the history behind each piece, and will allow users to navigate the digital collection at their own pace.
Giammetti explained: "It is an idea that I had many years ago, after going through a great museum site and being able to navigate through these rooms full of paintings. I asked myself if it would be possible to recreate a vast computer-generated museum".
The 'museum' will be offered to fashion lovers around the globe as a downloadable desktop application, available on the 5th of December.
Valentino explained that he sees the virtual museum as an important part of his legacy. "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".
