For decades he designed dresses for the red carpet, now Valentino has walked it in his own right – after a fly-on-the-wall documentary of the maestro of fashion was presented at the Venice Film Festival.

“Valentino: The Last Emperor” covers the final two years of a career that spanned almost half a century until his retirement in January.

Valentino had no involvement in the editing, allowing director Matt Tyrnauer to even show the designer’s darker sides.

“The movie exactly reflects what I am,” said Valentino. “I have moments when I get angry so it reflects me from start to finish.”

The 76-year-old Italian’s attitude towards fashion has matured over the years.

“I’ve always loved dressing really beautiful women,” he said. “However, with time I’ve also learned to love dressing women who perhaps weren’t beautiful but who had something about them more than beauty.”

While Valentino stole the spotlight, festival judges concentrated their attention on films by Japanese cult director, Takeshi Kitano and German Christian Petzold.

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