Valentino Garavani, Italian fashion designer. Biography.

Valentino Garavani is an Italian fashion designer and founder of the Valentino fashion house and the L.I.F.E. charitable foundation. Since the late 1960s, he has been considered a leading Italian couturier. The main feature of the Valentino collections is the elegant form-fitting silhouette, luxurious fabrics and lace, exquisite embroidery and fur details. Garavani died on January 19, 2026 at the age of 93.

Childhood and early career

Valentino Garavani was born on May 11, 1932 in the town of Voghera near Milan, which is located in northern Italy. Since childhood, the designer has shown interest in drawing, clothing and accessories. In 1949, after graduating from high school, he entered the Academy of Art in Milan, and the following year began studying at the School of the Syndicate of Haute Couture in Paris. In 1951, after graduating, the fashion designer tried to get a job at the major Parisian fashion houses Jacques Fath and Balenciaga, but was refused.

For 10 years, Valentino interned with French fashion designers Jean Dessay and Guy Laroche, designing storefronts and sketching clothes. In 1959, Garavani returned to Italy and began collaborating with designers Emilio Schubert and Vincenzo Ferdinandi, and later founded his own brand.

The creation of Valentino

In 1960, the designer opened his own studio in Rome and registered the Valentino brand. One of the brand's first famous clients was American actress Elizabeth Taylor. During the same period, he met entrepreneur Giancarlo Giammetti, who became his business partner, and in 1962-1998 he served as CEO of the fashion house.

In 1968, the brand launched Collezione Bianca, which consisted entirely of white and beige pieces decorated with embroidery in the shape of the letter V. Later it became the brand's logo. It was the lace dress from this collection that was chosen by former First Lady of the United States Jacqueline Kennedy for her wedding to Aristotle Onassis, and photos from this ceremony glorified the designer.

Since the late 1960s, boutiques of the fashion house began to appear in different cities of the world - in Rome, Milan, Tokyo, New York, Paris, Moscow and others. In total, more than 1.5 thousand stores were opened in more than 100 countries.

The designer's regular clients included British Princess Diana, Queen Sofia of Greece of Spain, Princess Grace Kelly of Monaco, First Lady Nancy Reagan, American actresses Nicole Kidman, Jane Fonda, Gwyneth Paltrow, Julia Roberts, as well as models Claudia Schiffer and Natalia Vodianova. Princess Madeleine of Sweden, actresses Jennifer Lopez and Anne Hathaway also married in Valentino dresses.

Garavani was the creative director of the house until January 23, 2008. At the Paris Haute Couture Week, he presented his collection, which ended his career with a show. The designer explained this action by the need to "retire, otherwise it will be too late."

Awards

In 1967, Valentino Garavani received the Marcus Neumann Award, which is considered the most prestigious in the fashion world, in 1986 — the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic, in 1996 — the Order of Merit in Work, in 2000, the designer won the Jeffrey Bean Award For his contribution to the development of fashion." from the Council of Fashion Designers of the USA. In 2009, he was awarded a star on the "Alley of Style" on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills.

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