Valentino Garavani is one of the best known Italian fashion designers in the entire world. His main clothing lines include Valentino Garavani, Valentino, R.E.D. Valentino and Valentino Roma. However, Valentino is not known only for his incredible designs, but also for his collection of mansions. Valentino’s Chateau de Wideville is one of the numerous architectural wonders that the designer owns. This castle was built in the XVIIth century by the finance minister of Louis the XIIIth. Located outside Paris, the mansion has a main house with no less than eight bedrooms and a dovecote of three stories that has been fully restored and furnished.
Valentino purchased the castle in the year 1995 and hired the famous Henri Samuel to furnish and decorate it. However, it seems that all the rooms in the house bear the touch of Valentino as well, as he also contributed to their decoration. As far as the decorations are concerned, it looks like these are a mix of Asian and Italian antiques. The Asian ones include a collection of very old Chinese costumes that Valentino found and purchased from Beijing almost 20 years ago.
Of all the luxury homes that Valentino has all over the world, including Rome, Switzerland, New York, Gstaad and London, it looks like he loves this one the most, as he spends here more than a few months a year since retiring from his firm. Although the entire place looks magnificent, the fashion designer’s favorite place of the estate is the winter garden. This chamber is a multipurpose one that is basically furnished in the Asian style that Valentino loves and appreciates so much. Some of the most exquisite Asian ceramics in the castle include figures in Chinese costumes, stout covered jars and famille-rose lawn seats.
As far as the pigeonnier is concerned, this was the last part of the castle that was restored. In fact, Valentino decided to save it from collapse just two years ago. Although the initial purpose of it was to serve as a place for raising doves, nowadays the building is mostly a hideaway place for the designer, a place where he goes to read, design or listen to music. In fact, it seems that some of the costumes meant for the New York City Ballet shows were created under the inspiration of this place.
It is no wonder that the dovecote inspired the designer so much, taking into consideration the fact that the place is decorated in the chinoiserie theme, but with slightly modern touches. The place looks truly harmonious, especially since it is filled only with beautiful and unique items that Valentino started collecting in 1964.
Overall, from all the fashion designer homes, Valentino’s is one of the most appreciated ones, especially because it is not only decorated by a specialist, but also has an important personal touch. In addition, although it is filled with incredible collections of the Asian culture, the chateau seems to also be highly comfortable and relaxing, which is the most important thing of all when it comes to a house.
Photo courtesy of Architectural Digest
