I'm an Easy Act to Follow; The grand man of haute couture on how dramatically luxury has changed.(Valentino Garavani)(Interview)(Cover story)

Byline: Dana Thomas

Nobody knows luxury like Valentino Garavani. Though a majority stake in the Valentino Fashion Group--which includes Hugo Boss--was sold last May, Valentino remains the last founding couturier still at the helm of his atelier. On July 7, after 17 years of showing in Paris, Valentino will return to Rome for a series of festivities--including the inauguration of a retrospective of his work at the Ara Pacis Museum and a ball in the Villa Borghese gardens--to celebrate his 45 years in the business. He recently met with NEWSWEEK's Dana Thomas in his late-Renaissance palazzo beside the Spanish Steps to talk about his life in luxury. Excerpts:

THOMAS: What is luxury today?

VALENTINO: For me, luxury is being able to make a certain life that suits you, to be surrounded by those you love, to have the comfort that you need, and OK, to have objects around your homes that are dear to you because it's what you have achieved. And you have luxury that I don't like, a sort that is too showoff.

Where is luxury going?

I don't know. You have the big businesses which have gone mass. They try more and more, between China and European factories, to make dresses for 20 or 30, 40, 50 euros, which young people buy. This makes the [owners] very successful--they are all billionaires now. But I think you always go back to the beautiful things. People will always want to buy quality.

How has haute couture changed during your career?