There are some people whose presence transforms a space, their sense of beauty lingering in every detail like a subtle yet irresistible fragrance in the air. The late Italian couturier Valentino Garavani was one of them. Tucked within a serene sweep of early Victorian terraces, where Knightsbridge meets Chelsea, his London house was not simply a place to live. It was a love letter to beauty as a way of life.
Gingham was a recurring leitmotif across Valentino’s residences. On the first floor, the cosy library was dressed in an inviting palette of green and cream, reinforcing the room’s sense of comfort and ease.
James Merrill © Ryland Peters & Small
‘I am in love with this house. It is the place I have always wanted to live,’ Valentino told House & Garden in 1992, reflecting on the special place it held in his heart. While his life unfolded between Rome and a constellation of other homes, from the snowy peaks of Gstaad to the glamour of Fifth Avenue, it was in the British capital that he found a rarer, quieter kind of happiness. ‘In Rome I never have time to shop or go to the theatre,’ he said. ‘London is the place I can do these things.’
In the dining room, a reproduction of the 18th-century French wallpaper Le Coq sets the tone for a bold yet sophisticated space, enriched with Chinese statues and vases, porcelain roosters, and Irish crystal on the table.
James Merrill © Ryland Peters & Small
When the couturier first stumbled across the house, he delighted in its charm, but knew it needed to be his. ‘It was very good-looking, full of pretty chintz. But I couldn’t live in a house full of flowers.’ Accustomed to working with the greatest decorators of the 20th century, he entrusted Roger Banks-Pye of Colefax & Fowler with reimagining the interiors, transforming it into something truer to his own sensibility, without spoiling its Britishness. ‘I did Rome with Renzo Mongiardino and New York with Peter Marino; in London I wanted an English decorator to work with,’ he said, candid about his appetite for boldness. ‘I wanted something more aggressive. I love to live in places that suit me.’