Topline
The Italian designer Valentino Garavani, who founded fashion brand Valentino in 1960, has died at age 93, according to a statement from his foundation posted to Instagram on Monday.
NEW YORK, NY – JUNE 03: Valentino Garavani attends the 2019 CFDA Fashion Awards at The Brooklyn Museum on June 3, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Taylor Hill/FilmMagic)
FilmMagic
Key Facts
The statement said Garavani “passed away today at his Roman residence, surrounded by his loved ones.”
His funeral will take place on Friday at the Basilica Santa Maria degli Angeli in Rome, the statement said.
Garavani will lie in state on Wednesday and Thursday at PM23, a cultural and exhibition space in Rome created by the Fondazione Valentino Garavani e Giancarlo Giammetti, according to his foundation
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni paid tribute to the late fashion icon, calling him an “undisputed master of style and elegance and eternal symbol of Italian high fashion” on X on Monday afternoon.
Crucial Quote
“I am not so enchanted when I see lots of people dressed in black on the street,” Garavani, who was known for his signature scarlet red shade, famously said.
Tangent
Garavani’s fashion house was long locked in a legal and reputational battle with Mario Valentino, a Naples-based fashion brand founded by leather goods designer Mario Valentino (whom Garavani is not related to) in the 1950s. While Garavani built a couture empire rooted in Rome and Paris, Mario Valentino specialized in footwear and accessories, particularly in the U.S. market. Decades of trademark disputes followed as consumers frequently confused the two labels. Courts ultimately allowed both to coexist, cementing one of fashion’s most enduring brand-name rivalries.
Key Background
Garavani was born in 1932 in Voghera, a town in northern Italy, and honed his craft in the haute couture houses of Paris before founding his own fashion house in Rome in 1960. He soon became synonymous with a distinctive scarlet shade—later dubbed “Valentino red”—that emerged as his signature. A year later, he met Giancarlo Giammetti, then a young architecture student, who would become both his business partner and, for more than a decade, his romantic partner. Together, they transformed Valentino SpA into one of the world’s most influential luxury fashion brands. Throughout the decades, Valentino has dressed a long list of it-girls and Hollywood celebrities, including Elizabeth Taylor, Audrey Hepburn, Jacqueline Kennedy, and, more recently, stars like Zendaya and Bella Hadid.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/martinadilicosa/2026/01/19/legendary-designer-valentino-garavani-dies-at-93/
