It began on the Via Veneto, July 31, 1960, when an 18-year-old Giancarlo Giammetti was ensconced in his seat at Café de Paris and Valentino Garavani walked in. Newly arrived in Rome, Garavani was launching his own label. He was “incredibly seductive, with his deep tan, blue eyes, and soft but intense way of speaking,” Giammetti once wrote. “Where can I find you?” Giammetti asked after a short chat. “Via Condotti, undici,” Garavani replied, giving Giammetti the address of a baroque 16th-century palazzo where he had rented the second-floor apartment to present his first collection. By September, following a rendezvous on Capri, Garavani and Giammetti were a couple. The rest is fashion history.
