News from Italy
Valentino Garavani, the Legendary Name of Fashion, Has Passed Away
Valentino Garavani, one of the most influential designers in the fashion world, passed away on January 19 in Rome. “I know what women want: they want to be beautiful.” This sentence was a concise expression of his aesthetic philosophy.
The Roman couturier Valentino Garavani, who founded his brand in 1960 and achieved global fame by dressing European royalty, first ladies, and the stars of his era, died at his home in Rome.
Born in Italy in 1932, Valentino Garavani created a singular star in the world of haute couture through the fashion house he founded. Renowned for his elegant designs and the iconic “Valentino red,” which entered the fashion lexicon, Garavani was regarded as one of the most powerful figures in international fashion history. Favored by world-famous artists, political leaders, and royal families, the designer produced numerous collections throughout his career that shaped the direction of fashion. The Valentino brand became a global symbol of luxury through his aesthetic vision.
Known for his meticulous tailoring, his signature poppy-red hue, and his emphasis on feminine details such as bows, ruffles, lace, and embroidery, Valentino was one of the defining figures of late 20th-century glamour. His inner circle, often referred to as “Val’s Gals,” included icons such as Elizabeth Taylor, Audrey Hepburn, and Sophia Loren. Jackie Kennedy wore a white Valentino dress at her wedding to Aristotle Onassis. Decades later, the designer reinterpreted a mint-green dress he had created for the former first lady in 1967 for Jennifer Lopez’s appearance at the 2003 Academy Awards. Julia Roberts accepted her Best Actress Oscar in 2001 for Erin Brockovich wearing a vintage black-and-white Valentino gown.
Who Was Valentino Garavani?
Valentino Clemente Ludovico Garavani was born on May 11, 1932, in Voghera, Italy. He chose fashion as a profession at a very young age and enrolled at the Accademia dell’Arte in Milan, where he studied fashion and French. Pursuing his ambitions, he moved to Paris at the age of 17 and studied at the École des Beaux-Arts and the Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne. After completing his education, he worked as an assistant to Greek designer Jean Dessès, known for his pleated evening gowns, and to French designer Guy Laroche, whose aesthetic was more sporty.
After spending a year with Princess Irene Galitzine, renowned for popularizing elegant evening pajamas, Garavani decided to pursue his own path with the support of his father and a family friend, founding his fashion house on Via Condotti in Rome in 1959. Giancarlo Giammetti, whom he met shortly thereafter, told Vanity Fair: “It was a maison de couture. I say this in French because it followed what he had seen in Paris. Everything was magnificent from the very beginning. Models were flown in from Paris for the first show. At the time, Italian fashion was very limited.”
With Giammetti as his greatest supporter, Valentino quickly became one of the best in the industry, despite coming close to bankruptcy within his first year. Attributing his turnaround to personal taste, he and Giammetti moved from Via Condotti to a smaller 16th-century palazzo on Via Gregoriana.
Initially, the press showed interest in Valentino as a rising talent and a handsome new face, but soon found a stronger reason to focus on him: his magnetic appeal to celebrities.
Valentino’s 1968 All White haute couture collection firmly established him among the enduring signatures of Italian design. Despite the historical importance of white, the designer would forever be associated with red—not just any red, but Valentino red: luminous, pure, and evocative of Italy, passion, religion, desire, and love.
He once said, “Everything is done to attract attention, to seduce, to enchant.” No matter how alluring a woman wearing Valentino might be, she was, above all and without question, a lady.
