Valentino says couture offers designers "the maximum freedom" to create.

The Italian designer - full name Valentino Clemente Ludovico Garavani - retired from the industry in January 2008, with an exhibition of his most iconic work opening in London, UK, later this month.

The star is famed for his flamboyant evening dresses, often coming in the bright hue known as Valentino red. He believes working on such pieces is what really makes a designer.

"Couture for me is the maximum freedom of real creation," he told British newspaper The Independent. "No limit to creativity, to beauty. No boring numbers but pure imagination. I hope it still represents the same for my fellow designers who work in couture."

Valentino enjoys looking back on his career, which started in 1959 when he opened a store in Rome. He can pinpoint the good and bad during each decade he worked, explaining fashion changed an enormous amount while he was in the industry.

"The 1960s were for me the discovery: opening my fashion house, the first success, the encounter with women who help me creating my style. The 1970s meant establishment, the creation of ready to wear... the fashion inspiration of the freedom. The 1980s were the commercial years, the big diffusion, the important business deals, the building of an empire," he said.

Not all his memories are good ones though. He didn't enjoy much of what was created during the '90s, although he isn't clear whether he is talking about his own work or that of his contemporaries. That said, Valentino believes what women want from their clothes has never really changed.

"The 1990s were interesting, but the most depressing in a certain sense, I dont like to remember the fashion of these years. The 2000s have been the big change in fashion," he said. "The creation of the big conglomerates, the bottom-line importance. And for me the beautiful, unforgettable, touching moment of quitting. But for me a woman has always had the desire to look her best. Beauty does not change, style does me.

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Valentino: Couture offers fashion freedom