NEW YORK, Dec 8, 2011/ FW/ — With Anne Hathaway as the godmother, the Valentino Garavani Virtual Museum opened to a global audience on Monday, Dec 5th. With the press conference streamed live at YouTube, thousands of fashionistas witnessed the “virtual” cutting of the ribbon.
But, this is a fashion event after all, and like every fashion event, a real live party was held on December 7th at the IAC HQ at 555 West 18th Street on December 7th with New York’s most beautiful people in attendance.
Valentino Garavani and Giancarlo Giammetti welcome notable guests Aaron Young and Laure Heriard Dubreuil, Andy Cohen, Anne Dexter-Jones,Barry Diller, Brian Atwood, China Chow, Claire Danes and Hugh Dancy, Courtney Love, Daphne Guinness, Eva Chow, Franca Sozzani, Harvey Weinstein and Georgina Chapman, Hope Atherton, Izabel Goulart, Joseph Altuzarra, Lauren Santo Domingo, Dr. Lisa Airan, Marjorie Gubelmann, Michelle Harper, Olivia Palermo, Olivier Rousteing, Peter Som, Rachel Zoe and Rodger Berman, Richard Chai, Sante D’Orazio, Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick, Shala Monroque, Tamara Mellon, Vladimir Restoin-Roitfeld, and Zani Gugelmann to the event.
The virtual museum, with over 15,000 downloads since its launch this past Monday, is a downloadable desktop application connected to an online database that uses a real time 3D technology to create an immersive environment.
Content is arranged in a museum layout where users explore the different galleries and wings covering what would be over 10,000 square meters in an actual museum. Over 300 dresses from the Valentino Garavani archive were captured for the museum and are organized by theme.
Also, content such as sketches, illustrations, advertising campaigns, editorials and red carpet as well as event photos provide a story to go with each dress. Special events and exhibitions from the pair’s history are celebrated with photos and video – from the 1968 White Collection to the 2011 White Fairy Tale Love Ball.
In addition, the application features a media library which catalogues the over 5000 images including dresses, photos, drawings and 180 fashion show videos.
