Valentino receives French honour - Telegraph Italian designer Valentino was awarded the Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres medal by France's minister of culture and communications yesterday. Valentino Garavani can add yet another award to his already busy mantelpiece. Yesterday, the 80-year-old Italian designer was presented with the Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres medal by France's minister of culture and communications, Aurelie Filippetti. READ: A closer look at Anne Hathaway's Valentino wedding dress "You have never left the front stage, as you were recently honored by the New York City Ballet for the costumes you created...," said Filippetti of Valentino. France hold Valentino dear to their national heart and have already awarded him the Legion d'Honneur as well as the Medal of the City of Paris for his services to fashion in the city, where he was educated at the prestigious École des Beaux-Arts. "The ceremony was in the same reception room [a gilded reception room overlooking the Palais-Royal]," the designer told WWD following the presentation. IN PICTURES: Valentino spring/summer 2013 Although officially retired, Valentino has continued to work on special projects. Just last month he created costumes for the New York City Ballet 's annual gala, and also designed the pink-tinted couture wedding gown worn by actress Anne Hathaway when she married long-term boyfriend Adam Shulman in a romantic Big Sur ceremony.