Remembering Valentino Garavani, grasp of Italian glamour

Valentino Garavani, the founding father of Roman vogue home Valentino, has handed away at the moment, it has been introduced by his eponymous basis. Aged 93, he was at dwelling in Rome, surrounded by family members.

Recognized for an expressive glamour rooted in his adopted dwelling metropolis of Rome – the place he based the home in 1959, after stints at Balenciaga and Man Laroche – he could be outlined by the daring shade of pink (‘Valentino Rosso’) which ran by way of his collections, in addition to his shut ties with cinema, dressing main girls from Italy and past. Jackie Kennedy Onassis, Elizabeth Taylor and Sophia Loren have been a few of his mates and muses.

Remembering Valentino Garavani (1932-2026)

Born in Voghera, northern Italy in 1932, his pursuit of vogue started in Milan in 1949, the place he enrolled at Santa Maria Institute to review ‘vogue sketching’, earlier than transferring to Paris in 1949. There, he would change into a scholar at École des Beaux-Arts, successful the distinguished Worldwide Wool Secretariat which led to a job at Jean Dessès, a now-defunct high fashion home recognized for robes in chiffon impressed by the draped silhouettes of historical Greece and Rome. Different roles in Paris would see him work alongside the greats of the day – particularly Cristóbal Balenciaga and Man Laroche.

He would return to Italy in 1959, and to Rome, which might change into his adopted dwelling metropolis throughout his lifetime. That very same yr, he based his eponymous atelier on By way of Condotti; one yr later, he would meet his companion in life and work, Giancarlo Giammetti. A definitive determine in Garavani’s life, they might stay companions till the tip. Simply final yr, they established PM23, a brand new cultural hub for his or her eponymous basis, Fondazione Valentino Garavani and Giancarlo Giammetti. Opening in Piazza Mignanelli, the unique headquarters of Valentino, the primary exhibition put Garavani’s creations in dialog with up to date artworks.

‘Seeing the clothes and artworks collectively sparked feelings we didn’t anticipate,’ Giammetti instructed Wallpaper*. ‘It reminded us how timeless magnificence will be, and the way creativity speaks throughout many years. It was each knowledgeable and private journey. It’s emotional. You don’t realise what you’ve constructed till you are taking a step again.’

It was within the Nineteen Sixties that Garavani would set up his identify: in 1962, he held his first runway present on the Pitti Palace in Florence. Pink, first launched in his 1959 ‘Fiesta’ assortment, would change into a signature: he says that he was first impressed by a girl wearing pink velvet on the opera, the place he was watching Bizet’s Carmen. ‘Amongst all the colors worn by the opposite girls, she appeared distinctive, remoted in her splendour,’ he mentioned. ‘I mentioned to myself that if I have been ever going to change into a designer, I’d do plenty of pink.’

It was additionally within the Nineteen Sixties that Garavani would set up a coterie of notable muses, lots of them from the world of cinema. These included Elizabeth Taylor, Sophia Loren and Jackie Kennedy Onassis, who have been all devotees and mates. They’d make him synonymous with the burgeoning jet-set of the period, and propel him to fame: alongside his work, he was recognized for his personal glamorous life-style, as captured in ‘Valentino: The Emperor’, a 2009 documentary. In it, he prepares for a retrospective of his then 45-year profession, travelling all over the world in glamorous fashion, surrounded by a phalanx of employees and his beloved pug canines. His fascinating character made him a family identify (in 2006, he performed himself in Satan Wears Prada).

Above all, although, his work was outlined by a steadfast pursuit of magnificence, eschewing ephemeral traits for a timeless imaginative and prescient of glamour. ‘I feel I’ve succeeded as a result of by way of all these many years I used to be all the time involved about making lovely garments,’ says Mr Garavani in a latest ebook ‘Valentino: A Grand Italian Epic’. ‘Let’s overlook vogue. It goes in different instructions typically: the grunge look, the messy look. I don’t care; I actually don’t care. I can’t see girls destroyed.’

He retired from the home in 2008 after his remaining high fashion present in Paris, briefly succeeded by Alessandra Facchinetti earlier than Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli turned joint inventive administrators. After Chiuri’s exit to go to Dior in 2016, Piccioli then turned the only inventive director. After his personal departure in 2024, he was changed by Alessandro Michele, who stays on the home.