It’s a bit strange that the city of Aspen, Colorado initiated a fashion week for the first week of March - exactly when Milan fall fashion week was going on! However, Aspen’s fashion week was an initiative to promote outerwear and ski wear by luxury groups like Fendi, Dior, Moncler, LV and Burberry - so it wasn’t so much about new fashion looks as it was an industry event. BUT - there was an Italian present: retired designer Valentino, who attended a screening of the documentary about his last collection, “Valentino: The Last Emperor” at Aspen Fashion Week (along with its producer, Vanity Fair editor Matt Tyrnauer. Valentino was a big smash amongst the Aspen ladies, and was feted like - well, am emperor. (The doc will open nationally in a month.) And somehow, his perennial tan was still intact, even in the most famous winter town in the world. Former Gucci Group CEO Domenico del Sole was also on hand, to spend time with his old friend (del Sole is credited with reinventing the Gucci brand with Tom Ford, and they both departed at the same time), and some excellent Italiano was spoken on the slopes this week - as far from Milan as you can imagine.
