ROME — Valentino, the fashion designer who dressed Jacqueline Kennedy for her wedding to Aristotle Onassis, spiffed up the look of once-shy Princess Diana and outfitted Julia Roberts the night she took home the Oscar, is planning to paint the city red with festivities marking 45 years as the "numero uno" in Italian fashion.

Celebrations began Friday, with the opening of a retrospective at Rome's Ara Pacis museum. On Saturday, the designer, whose Pompeian red lipstick is a hallmark of his Mediterranean chic, presented his couture collection for winter 2007-2008 in a medieval convent.

The anniversary brings Valentino back to the Eternal City for the first time since he packed his fashion bags for Paris 17 years ago.

"I am filled with emotion," Valentino said at the opening of his retrospective in the modern, marble-and-glass venue designed by the American architect Richard Meier.

The exhibit, set up by Patrick Kinmonth and Antonio Monfreda, includes more than 200 outfits, shoes and accessories.

"What we wanted to create was a spiritual journey," Kinmonth said, pointing to a room with luxurious gowns hanging from the ceiling. He explained that the gowns were meant to give the effect of "floating ideas."