Singer of luxury: fashion designer Valentino Garavani has died

Valentino Garavani, the founder of the world—famous Valentino fashion house, who dressed high-society stars from Elizabeth Taylor to Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, has died in Rome at the age of 93. His long name will probably be fully remembered only by fashion connoisseurs, but his first name, Valentino, is probably familiar to everyone, because it was he who named his fashion house, which has become synonymous with lush feminine luxury. Izvestia recalls the brightest pages of the biography of the great fashion designer.

The Creator of beauty

Valentino Clementi Ludovico Garavani was born on May 11, 1932 in the small town of Voghera in Lombardy. Even in elementary school, the boy showed outstanding drawing abilities. However, there was little variety in his drawings: he usually painted women's dresses of self-invented styles. His father was an electrician, his mother was a housewife and a fashionista, and his aunt was a tailor who sewed things to order. With the help of his mother, Valentino himself became addicted to stylish clothes, and as he grew older, he began to help his aunt in the tailor's craft. Soon he was sewing and cutting things himself, and his family, noting not only the young man's passion, but also his remarkable talent, helped him leave for Milan and enroll in the Academy of Arts in Milan. But Valentino aimed higher, and a year later, in 1950, he moved to Paris, the capital of fashion, to complete his education at the School of Fine Arts at the Haute Couture Syndicate.

After graduating, Valentino tried to get a job at the best fashion houses in Paris at that time. Cooperation with Balenciaga did not work out, but Valentino was able to get a part-time job with fashion designer Jean Dessay. However, he was not allowed to create clothes, and for the most part he got window dressing and help in drawing sketches. It was then that he began to develop his own style — an abundance of folds and frills, bright colors and prints. However, relatively little is known about the early period of Valentino's work — his sketches from the first years of his work in Paris have almost all been lost.

The young designer spent several years trying to make his way to the top in the Paris fashion world, and although his sketches were admired by the most famous Parisian fashionistas, in 1959 he decided to try to achieve fame in his homeland. Valentino moved to Rome and in 1960 opened his first atelier on the chic Via Condotti. The fashion designer spared no expense on his creation, lavishly decorating not only the room itself, but also the surroundings, and inviting models from Paris to the first show. The show was well received, but it did not bring serious income to the fashion designer.

Creating a fashion empire

Despite the fact that the young designer quickly made the Italian fashion world talk about himself, his financial affairs did not go well at first: having spent much more than he could on opening and promoting his atelier, Valentino was on the verge of bankruptcy. His further path to fame was determined by a chance acquaintance with a young businessman Giancarlo Giametti, who for many years became the financial genius of the Valentino fashion house. Giancarlo completely took over the commercial part of the fashion business, leaving the designer with only pure creativity.

The first international Valentino show took place in 1962 in Florence, at the Pitti Immagine exhibition. It was there that he first demonstrated outfits of an unusual red-orange shade, which later became known in the world as Valentino Red (a combination of 100% yellow, 100% magenta (magenta) and 10% black). It was after this show that Valentino's work was talked about in the best Italian houses. His clients included actresses Audrey Hepburn and Elizabeth Taylor, British Princess Margaret and the widow of US President Jacqueline Kennedy. In 1963, she ordered six black outfits from Valentino to mourn her murdered husband. And two years later, the famous "white collection" was released. Jacqueline Kennedy was once again one of the buyers of this collection, but now not for sorrow, but for joy: she bought a dress from the designer for her wedding with Aristotle Onassis.

In the second half of the 1960s, Valentino was already considered a recognized leader in world fashion. In 1967, he received the Markus Neumann Award, the equivalent of the Oscar in the fashion world.

Up only

Almost every business has its ups and downs, but the Valentino fashion house has hardly been affected by the latter. From 1960 to the early 2000s, Valentino's fashion empire continued its global expansion. In 1968, he opened his first boutique in Paris, followed by Paris, Tokyo, and New York... By the time Valentino retired, his boutiques were operating in more than 100 countries around the world.

The range of the fashion house also expanded: in the 1970s, Valentino began to produce clothes for men, in 1978 his first perfume composition appeared on sale, in 1983 the designer created the first youth collection, two years later - jeans, and by the end of the 1980s the fashion house already had its own collections of bags and underwear. underwear. In addition, in 1984, Valentino became the official designer of the Italian Olympic team, designing uniforms for athletes for the Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

"I know what women want: they want to be beautiful," Valentino Garavani once said, and this widely quoted quote could become the motto of his fashion house. Valentino's clothes have always been distinguished by their splendor, luxury and emphasized femininity, which is why for many years the designer's models were certainly present on the Oscar red carpet and at major social events. Among his clients were representatives of the world of the rich and famous of several generations: Princess Diana and Queen Sofia of Spain, Sophia Loren and Gwyneth Paltrow, Claudia Schiffer and Natalia Vodianova.

In 1998, the Valentino fashion house was sold, but the designer retained the directorship. He left the company after the show on January 23, 2008, held at the Paris Haute Couture Week. However, even after that, he continued to create clothes privately. In 2012, he created costumes for the New York City Ballet charity performance, which raised more than $ 3 million, and in 2016 for the premiere of the opera La Traviata in Rome.

The fashion designer died on January 19, 2026 at his villa surrounded by his loved ones. It has been announced that Valentino Garavani's funeral will be held on January 23 in Rome.