The New Valentino

First he stopped in Dallas to pick up the Neiman-Marcus award as the year's most original dress designer. Then he went on to Palm Beach, where Martha's, an exclusive salon with shops in Florida and New York, bestowed a similar award. In Manhattan, 400 socialites turned out to see his clothes at a benefit cocktail party on the St. Regis roof for the Committee to Rescue Italian Art.

By the time he flew back to Rome last week, order book overflowing from his 20-day U.S. tour, Valentino, 34, had clearly emerged as the new darling of the eminently fashionable.

His customers are the same women who have been buying from Mainbocher, Balenciaga, Givenchy and Dior for years. The list includes such current Best-Dressed women as Lee Radziwill, Christina Ford and Mrs. Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt, as well as Best-Dressed Hall of Famers Gloria Guinness, Jackie Kennedy, "Babe" Paley and Jayne Wrightsman. The key to Valentino's rise: in a fashion world gone mad for mod, he designs clothes of great taste and elegance for women who prize beauty above eccentricity.

"Live to Be 100!" "The ye-ye look is fine for girls twelve to 15 years old, but it lacks the proportion for an older woman," says Valentino, who thinks that a woman's best years are between 30 and 50. "The vieille petite fille--the old little girl--looks ridiculous." Thus Valentino hemlines rise no more than one inch above the knee, and necklines are high. Yet the Valentino look is anything but matronly: bright, gay colors and trim, geometric lines characterize his designs; sheer luxury is one of their chief appeals. It is the kind of luxury that means fabrics costing as much as $140 per yard, three-faced wools, the most expensive silks for buttonholes, and mink used as pure adornment. Valentino's prices are commensurate. They begin at $750 for a dress, range up to $5,000 for an evening gown.

What makes his success all the more remarkable is that Valentino opened his salon in Rome only six years ago, after learning the trade from Jean Desses and Guy Laroche in Paris. Says Valentino Customer Consuelo Crespi: "He went after the extravagant, luxurious woman, and what he wanted he got." First he got Jackie Kennedy by dedicating five evening gowns to her in 1961. She remains his most constant client, last year bought her pants suit from his collection. She often writes him long, glowing letters, has even been known to clap her hands, crying "Valentino, live to be 100!" while picking out a dress.

"I Have Them All." Along the way he collected such other fashion pacesetters as Marella Agnelli, Princess Paola of Belgium, Audrey Hepburn and Anne Reed. Now he is the acknowledged king of Italian couture. His brown and white "head to toe" line featuring chain-printed silks was the hit of Rome's recent spring and summer collections. Though he has a staff of nearly 200 at his headquarters on Via Gregoriana, he has just opened a second salon in Milan to keep up with orders.

A prodigious worker who relaxes only occasionally at the theater or at his Capri villa, he is personally a conservative dresser, has only one obvious affectation: black, almost jaw-length sideburns. He is noted for shyness, except when it comes to his clients. "I have them all now," he says proudly. And his customers are just as proud that he does. Would it be all right, he asked Gloria Guinness, the woman whom Women's Wear Daily calls "the ultimate," if he told the press that she was an enthusiastic customer? "Tell them, Valentino," said she, "that I don't like your clothes--I love them!"

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