valentino acqua floreale

 "Valentina possesses the multifaceted and unconventional allure of a sophisticated modern woman who adores the spotlight, but also loves the sumptuous shadows of her ancestral palazzo and the enveloping, reassuring embrace of ancient frescoed rooms and secret gardens.

Acqua Floreale is like a leisurely stroll in the midst of nature, immersed in the sensual and exciting fragrances of a summer garden.

Limpid summer mornings and sunny Roman gardens are also evoked through the bottle design with its light nuances and transparencies." (x)

"In 1964 a client gave Valentino what he calls “the biggest gift of my life.” Jacqueline Kennedy bought six of his couture dresses, all in black and white, to wear during her year of mourning after J.F.K.’s death."
So Very Valentino, by Matt Tyrnauer

the white fairy tale love ball at château de wideville

A snow-dusted fairy tale ball at a real-life château - isn't that just wish-fulfillment and escapism at its best?

"The romantic set, with antique sleighs and conversational sofas and nineteenth-century antler chairs (draped in the patterned wool shawls that would prove useful accessories when chilly night finally fell), evoked the atmosphere of an aristocratic pre-Revolutionary dacha, all seemingly lost in a blizzard of faux snow. Perched on these seats in their frosty finery, Tatiana Santo Domingo (in a pale lace Philip Treacy mask), Eugenie Niarchos (in a diamond coronet), Coco Brandolini and Margherita Missoni (all dressed in current or vintage Valentino) looked like so many Chekhovian sisters."

Hamish Bowles (x)

For a view of the invitation go here & for moments captured on film here.

For the best-dressed attendees go behind the cut.