Legendary Designer Valentino Garavani Dies At 93

Key Facts

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.