The icon will be missed
Valentino Garavani, the legendary Italian designer known as fashion’s “Last Emperor,” has passed away at the age of 93. He passed away peacefully at his residence in Rome, surrounded by loved ones, leaving behind a legacy that redefined elegance, femininity and the very notion of glamour in the modern age.
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Here’s everything you need to know about Valentino Garavani:
Born in 1932 in the small town of Voghera, Italy, and Garavani was named after silent film star Rudolph Valentino, the designer’s destiny seemed written in the stars from the beginning.
After apprenticing in the haute couture ateliers of Paris throughout the 1950s, Valentino returned to Italy and opened his own fashion house in Rome in 1959. His first red dress, “La Fiesta,” debuted in Spring/Summer 1959—a strapless, mid-length tulle party dress in a vivid, high-impact shade that announced the arrival of a major talent. The dress became an instant sensation, putting Valentino on the map and establishing what would become known as “Valentino Red”—a shade so distinctive it earned its own Pantone designation.
In 1960, he met Giancarlo Giammetti, then a young architecture student who would become his business partner for life and, for twelve years, his romantic partner. Together, they built not just a brand but an empire of elegance that would dress the most powerful and glamorous women of multiple generations.
Valentino’s clientele read like a who’s who of twentieth-century glamour. Elizabeth Taylor was among his first famous customers, meeting him while filming “Cleopatra” in Rome in the early 1960s. But it was his relationship with Jacqueline Kennedy that would cement his international reputation. The former First Lady wore Valentino to President John F. Kennedy’s funeral in 1963, and later commissioned six black and white haute couture dresses to wear during her year of mourning. When she chose a chic, modern knee-length Valentino dress for her 1968 wedding to Aristotle Onassis, rather than a traditional bridal gown, the designer’s status as the go-to couturier for women of power and elegance was irrevocably established.
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Throughout the decades, Valentino’s circle expanded to include the crème de la crème of society and the entertainment industry. He spent much of the 1970s in New York, surrounded by friends including Andy Warhol and Vogue editor Diana Vreeland. In the 1990s, the supermodel era brought Claudia Schiffer and Naomi Campbell into his orbit. His gowns graced red carpets with unfailing regularity—Julia Roberts accepting her Oscar in a vintage 1992 Valentino gown, Cate Blanchett in yellow for her “Aviator” win, and Anne Hathaway in a custom ivory bridal gown hand-painted in shades of pink with delicate satin flowers.
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As the fashion world mourns the passing of its Last Emperor, we are reminded that true style is eternal. The women who wore Valentino—from Jackie O to Zendaya—understood that his gowns offered more than mere clothing. They offered a vision of elegance, a commitment to beauty, and an understanding that in a world of constant change, some things—like the perfect red dress—remain timelessly, gloriously constant.
Valentino Garavani’s passing marks the end of an extraordinary era in fashion history. For more than six decades, he remained steadfast in his vision of beauty, never wavering in his commitment to craftsmanship, elegance, and that signature shade of red that became synonymous with his name. As Valentino himself once said, “I know what women want. They want to be beautiful.” In making that dream a reality for so many, he ensured his own immortality.
Valentino Garavani will lie in state ahead of his funeral on Friday at the Basilica Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri in Rome.
