Valentino dreamed of designing while playing soccer

OHMYGOSSIP — Famed fashion designer Valentino Garavani dreamed of designing gowns while playing football with his friends as he was growing up in Italy.

The 82-year-old fashion designer – who founded the internationally acclaimed brand Valentino in 1959 – has revealed his desire to start designing started when he was just a little boy playing with his friends in Voghera, Lombardy, in Italy.

Speaking of his enthusiasm for fashion, he said: “It’s a passion, but sometimes it’s also a burden. I remember when I was young, age six or seven, I used to play with my friends at home in Voghera. When we played football, I always made mistakes and went to the wrong goal. I remember I was always putting my head in my hands, even awake, trying to dream.

“I was dreaming about all the magazines my older sister used to buy, all the magazines with movie stars of the time, showing pictures of them in beautiful evening gowns. And that is what I was dreaming about, even at such a young age. I was just into beauty – beauty and pictures of beauty.”

Valentino also revealed he appreciates the old fashioned etiquette of British society.

He shared: “I love the mentality of England, the tradition, the old values. There is a code of light formality in England today. It is something the modern world forgets. Codes and rules of etiquette gave your life a structure and a balance.”