Italian couturier Valentino Garavani has died at home in Rome, surrounded by loved ones. He was 93 years old. The legendary designer will be lying in state at the Italian capital’s Piazza Mignanelli on Wednesday and Thursday this week, while the funeral is due to take place this Friday at the Basilica Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri. 

One of the most influential fashion designers in history, Garavani was born in a small town in northern Italy in 1932. He was only nine when he decided he was destined to be a designer, inspired by the 1941 Judy Garland movie Ziegfeld Girl. He trained as an apprentice under his aunt Rosa as well as local designers, and aged 17, moved to Paris, where he studied at the École des Beaux Arts and the Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne. After graduating, Garavani went on to work for designers such as Jean Dessés, Guy Laroche, Emilio Schuberth and Vincenzo Ferdinandi, before he moved back to Rome and opened his own boutique in 1960.

In 1962, the designer staged his debut runway show. Held in Florence (the Italian fashion capital before Milan), the show was a roaring success, resulting in international orders and earning him a client list that included Jackie Kennedy, Elizabeth Taylor and Princess Margaret. Famously, Kennedy commissioned Garavani to design the black mourning dresses that she wore for a year following John F. Kennedy's assassination. 

While some will remember the black couture gowns he designed for Kennedy, others will remember the white column dresses (popularised by Elizabeth Taylor) featured in his All White couture collection of 1968. The colour most commonly associated with Valentino, however, is his vivid “Valentino red” (pictured above). 

“I think a woman dressed in red is always wonderful, she is the perfect image of a heroine,” the designer wrote in the book Rosso (Red). He was sure to include at least one red gown in every one of his collections, telling Vogue, “I told myself that if I were ever going to become a designer, I would do lots of red.”

After four decades in the industry, in 2007, Garavani announced his retirement from fashion. He delivered his final show in Paris in January 2008, following the announcement that he would be passing the baton to design duo Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli. Though Chiuri departed the brand in 2016, Piccioli stayed as the sole creative director. He left his post in 2024 and was replaced by Alessandro Michele, who remains the current creative director. 

It’s a sad day for the industry, and we will likely see tributes to the “Emperor of fashion” throughout the upcoming fashion season, most notably at his namesake brand. The news comes just four months after the death of another Italian fashion legend, Giorgio Armani, whose presence was felt throughout the SS26 season, with touching tributes from Yohji Yamamoto and the Armani atelier. Though Valentino is no longer with us, it’s a name and a legacy that will continue for generations to come.