So you decided it was time. I can accept your absence, but never your death. Memory, remembrance and love remain with us forever, and I believe this is how we never truly abandon those we love.
I will come to say goodbye, elegant and composed, aware of your gaze upon me (I will undoubtedly misstep somewhere). Around me there will be immaculate order, yet I will know that behind such precision lived an unexpected lightness. An almost innocent brilliance, as though every idea were always the first, as though wonder had never faded. That is what made everything possible, and magical. For you, beauty was never a luxury nor an ornament: it was a form of defence, a place of safety, the only one possible. A protection, a shield against the world. You were my mentor without ever needing a lectern; you had no need of one.You taught me that fashion is joy, though a profoundly serious kind of joy.
A thousand memories pass through my mind, above all the infinite patience with which you answered the countless questions I wore you down with during fittings, naturally with hair and make-up done. Farah Diba leaving Persia. Studio 54, Bianca Jagger on horseback. Halston’s house, and Nan Kempner.
I witnessed everything that lives in fashion’s collective imagination through your eyes and your stories: the endless discussions about Sanremo, and why leather shoes never belong with a chiffon dress.
You taught me so many things. Above all, never to doubt myself or my ideas.
And the bows too, yes: you taught me how to make the most beautiful bows in the world. And I learned that love is protection, because the way Giancarlo loved you was a shield against the harshness of the world, and the most precious gift one could ask for. I will say goodbye to you in this way, with composed gratitude and a trace of imperfection. For this, too, is what you taught me: that absolute precision without humanity leaves no trace, while a mistake shaped with intelligence can become style
You created an eternity, a place made of dream and beauty. There, death does not exist, because it is unnecessary. It is a place that will remain, for me, for everyone, forever.
