With his all-seasons tan and aristocratic manner, his palatial homes and private jets overflowing with pet pugs, fashion designer Valentino Garavani would be an easy target for caricature-were it not for his ability to create gowns of ravishing beauty. Vanity Fair editor Matt Tyrnauer's portrait of Valentino captures both the absurd and the sublime, the tan and the talent, in what becomes an elegiac ode to waning traditions of artistic authority and transcendent glamour. Following the designer for two years leading up to the celebration of his label's forty-fifth anniversary in 2007, the film observes the painstaking craft and the complex business of couture, documenting the widening rift between Valentino the artist and Valentino the company. Through it all, Giancarlo Giammetti, the designer's longtime partner in business and life, is an ever-present handler, companion, critic, and guide. If Valentino is the film's protagonist, Giammetti is perhaps its most fascinating character. Asked to describe the feeling of living in another's shadow, Giammetti replies: “Happiness.”

Valentino: The Last Emperor is repeated on Sunday, September 6.