Valentino, the famous Italian fashion designer known for mixing luxury and high fashion to create clothes that made many famous women look amazing, passed away on Monday at his home in Rome. His foundation shared the news. He was 93 years old.
Over a 48-year career running his own fashion house, the designer, who was born Valentino Garavani, became widely known by his first name.
His name became a symbol of high fashion that was rich, feminine, and very Italian.
When asked about his style, he often focused on the women he dressed.
He once told Elle magazine in 2007, "The most important thing is to try my hardest with all my passion to make a woman look beautiful and make dresses that are flattering to her body. A woman must feel like she has a glow."
This belief kept Valentino popular at special events for his entire career.
From the start of his label in 1960 until he retired in January 2008, he dressed many of the world’s most famous women. These included Princess Diana, Audrey Hepburn, Crown Princess Marie-Chantal of Greece, Meryl Streep, Oprah Winfrey, and Gwyneth Paltrow, whose daughter, Apple, is Valentino’s goddaughter. This list of famous clients was a big part of his success for almost 50 years.
Elizabeth Taylor was one of his early supporters.
She wore a Valentino dress to the 1960 premiere of Spartacus in Rome. Later, he designed a black taffeta gown with lace and ruffles for her at the 1971 Proust Ball in Paris, where she was photographed by Cecil Beaton.
Valentino designed Taylor's wardrobe for the movie Night Watch (1973), but their friendship led to more personal looks.
Taylor wore two yellow Valentino gowns for her 1991 wedding and for the Academy Awards in 1993 when she received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award.
Taylor wasn't the only famous woman who wore Valentino for important events.
Jacqueline Kennedy wore black Valentino dresses during the year she grieved after John F. Kennedy's assassination in 1963. Five years later, she wore a cream two-piece outfit from his 1968 "White Collection" when she married Aristotle Onassis. Another notable dress was the green one-shoulder caftan she wore on a 1967 trip to Cambodia. Valentino later made a similar design for Jennifer Lopez at the 2003 Oscars.
Other famous Oscar designs include Cate Blanchett's yellow one-shoulder gown she wore in 2005 when she won an Academy Award for best supporting actress in The Aviator, and Reese Witherspoon's black lace and bead embellished dress she wore in 2002 at her first Oscars.
But the most celebrated Valentino Oscar look was in 2001 when Julia Roberts won the best actress Oscar for Erin Brockovich in a black gown with wide white satin piping down the center front and a tulle train.
It was from a 1992 collection and was a huge hit.
Valentino called that moment one of the highlights of his career.
He said, "I have to be very sincere, the person that makes me feel very happy, also because [she] chose vintage, was Julia Roberts in Erin Brockovich when she got the Academy Award." He shared this during a news conference at the 2008 Venice Film Festival, where a documentary about his life, Valentino: The Last Emperor, premiered.
Valentino Clemente Ludovico Garavani was born on May 11, 1932, in Voghera, Italy, a small town near Milan and Genoa.
His mother, Teresa, named him after the silent film star Rudolph Valentino. She couldn’t have known he would grow up to work with many famous women or that he’d appear in two Hollywood films, The Devil Wears Prada (2006) and Zoolander 2 (2016).
Cinema played a big part in his early life.
He said in the documentary, "I was always so attracted by magazines, by films. I had a sister who took me to see films for the first time. To me, the dream of my life was to see the beautiful ladies of the silver screen. I remember [1941’s] Ziegfeld Girl with Hedy Lamarr, Lana Turner, Judy Garland, and Jimmy Stewart. For me, to see this kind of beauty, I think from that moment I decided I wanted to create clothes for ladies."
He had a strong interest in fashion and art, especially illustration.
At 17, he started studying fashion sketching at the Santa Maria Institute in Milan. Soon after, he moved to Paris to study at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. His talent earned him a design competition win, which led to a position with Jean Dessés, one of the most famous Parisian couturiers after World War II.
Among Garavani's colleagues at Jean Dessès was designer Guy Laroche, who started his own label in 1957 and asked Garavani to work for him. Two years later, with money from his father, Garavani showed his first collection in a Rome apartment on Via Condotti. In 1960, the brand Maison Valentino was created. Today, the main Valentino store in Rome is just a short walk from that original spot on Via Condotti, near Piazza di Spagna.
Also in 1960, Garavani met Giancarlo Giammetti, who was studying architecture at the time.
Giammetti joined Valentino to handle the business side, allowing Garavani to focus on design. The two became very close and were considered one of the most famous and stylish couples in Milan, especially as Valentino's success grew quickly.
The premiere of Federico Fellini's movie *La Dolce Vita* in 1960 highlighted the stylish life of modern Italy.
Soon, Garavani and Giammetti found themselves part of a circle that included actors like Anita Ekberg, Sophia Loren, and Marcello Mastroianni.
Garavani and Giammetti were known for their charm, often seen in tailored suits, with thick, wavy hair neatly back.
They helped build the Valentino empire, which included homes in Rome, New York, Capri, and more, along with a famous art collection and a reputation as travelers who often took their dogs on worldwide trips.
With Giammetti managing the business, Garavani could focus on his designs.
From his first collection, he loved the color red, and a specific shade—bright with a hint of orange—became a key part of the brand. He once said in an interview with Italian Esquire, "Red is life, passion, love; it's the cure for sadness. A woman in red, especially at night, is splendid. She stands out in a crowd like a heroine."
In 2007, Valentino's work was featured at the Ara Pacis Museum in Rome.
He said, "I am filled with emotion." For his last collection in 2008, he honored his favorite color, showing all 40 models in identical red silk dresses with asymmetrical necklines. That same red color is now officially called "Valentino Red" by Pantone.
At 75, celebrating 45 years in fashion, Valentino decided to retire in January 2008, wanting to end his career on a high note.
After that final collection, Alessandra Facchinetti took over as creative director, but only for a year. Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli, who were in charge of accessories, became co-creative directors. Chiuri left to be the creative director of Dior in 2016, while Piccioli stayed until 2024. Then Alessandro Michele, who was Gucci's creative director for eight years, became the new creative director at Valentino.
Even though Garavani and Giammetti ended their romantic relationship in 1972, they stayed as business partners and close friends.
In 2011, they created the Valentino Garavani Virtual Museum, an online archive of their work, and also arranged a worldwide exhibition.
In 2012, he designed 25 costumes for the New York City Ballet's Fall Gala.
In 2016, they founded the Fondazione Valentino Garavani and Giancarlo Giammetti in Rome, supporting several causes, including helping underprivileged children and the elderly and running cultural programs.
He will lie in state at PM23 in Piazza Mignanelli 23 on Wednesday and Thursday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
His funeral will be held on Friday at the Basilica Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri in Piazza della Repubblica 8 in Rome at 11 a.m.
Even after retiring from fashion, Valentino never stopped loving elegance and joy in life.
He also never stopped making women feel beautiful. In September 2007, when he announced his retirement, he said, "Even as a young boy, my passion was to design, and I have been very lucky to be able to do what I have loved all my life. There can be few greater gifts than that."
