Italian vogue has misplaced certainly one of its most enduring icons. Valentino Garavani, the legendary couturier whose title grew to become synonymous with magnificence, drama, and uncompromising magnificence, has died on the age of 93. His passing marks the tip of an period not just for haute couture however for a era of designers who outlined vogue as spectacle, self-discipline, and artwork. For greater than six many years, Valentino Garavani formed how glamour appeared, moved, and felt, dressing among the strongest and photographed girls in fashionable historical past.
From Rome to Paris, New York to Hollywood, Valentino constructed a universe during which magnificence was paramount and extra was unapologetic. His demise closes the chapter on a life lived with operatic depth—one full of art-filled palazzos, legendary events, red-carpet triumphs, and a singular devotion to craft. Few designers achieved his degree of cultural attain whereas remaining so fiercely loyal to a private aesthetic. As tributes pour in from throughout the style world, one factor is obvious: he was an emblem of vogue’s imperial age.
Valentino Garavani Dies at 93, Leaving Vogue’s “Final Emperor”
Italian vogue legend Valentino Garavani, whose elegant night robes had been favored for many years by among the world’s most glamorous girls, has died at 93, in response to his basis.https://t.co/MzMAKpkKC3 pic.twitter.com/h3bXzn1W02
— CNN (@CNN) January 19, 2026
Valentino Clemente Ludovico Garavani died peacefully at his residence in Rome, in response to an announcement launched by his basis. He was surrounded by household on the time of his passing. The information has reverberated throughout the worldwide vogue business, prompting an outpouring of tributes from designers, cultural leaders, and political figures who acknowledged Valentino Garavani as certainly one of Italy’s biggest artistic exports.
Usually described as vogue’s “Final Emperor,” Valentino Garavani outlived a lot of his contemporaries, together with Yves Saint Laurent and Karl Lagerfeld. Ladies’s Put on Day by day famously topped them with monikers: Yves the King, Karl the Kaiser, and Valentino the Stylish, but it surely was the 2008 documentary “Valentino: The Final Emperor” that cemented his mythic standing. Although he bristled on the title, his lifetime of grandeur, self-discipline, and ceremony appeared to justify it.
A Lifetime of Grandeur, Artwork, and Legendary Celebrations
Valentino Garavani lived as extravagantly as he designed. His houses included a palazzo on Rome’s Piazza Mignanelli, a villa on the Appian Manner, a London mansion, a New York penthouse, a chalet in Gstaad, and the Château de Wideville outdoors Paris. His 152-foot yacht, the T.M. Blue One, was a well-known sight within the Mediterranean, emblematic of a way of life that matched his couture’s drama.
Equally legendary had been his celebrations. From his fiftieth birthday at Studio 54, the place he performed ringmaster in a Fellini-esque circus, to multi-day anniversary extravaganzas staged towards the ruins of Historic Rome, Valentino Garavani understood vogue as theater. His forty fifth anniversary celebration in 2007, staged on the Colosseum and bathed in Valentino crimson, grew to become an unforgettable image of pre-financial-crisis extra.
The Artistic and Romantic Partnership With Giancarlo Giammetti
On the coronary heart of Valentino Garavani’s success was his partnership with Giancarlo Giammetti, whom he met in Rome in 1960. Their relationship, romantic for 12 years {and professional} for greater than 50, stays certainly one of vogue’s nice love tales. Giammetti managed the enterprise with precision whereas Valentino Garavani targeted on creation, collectively reworking a struggling atelier into a worldwide luxurious home.
Although they finally parted as lovers, their bond endured. They grew to become godparents collectively, holidayed as household with shut pals, and stood as dwelling proof that artwork and commerce may coexist when constructed on belief and devotion. With out Giammetti, Valentino Garavani won’t have survived his early monetary struggles; with out Valentino, Giammetti wouldn’t have helped construct certainly one of vogue’s most recognizable names.
The Signature Model and the Energy of Valentino Pink
Vogue mourns the lack of Valentino Garavani.⁰The Roman couturier, grasp of timeless magnificence and creator of the enduring Valentino crimson, has handed away at 93, surrounded by family members.
His legacy transcends tendencies. Grace was his signature.
Addio, Maestro.🕊️ #LisLove #Valentino pic.twitter.com/PWX72cUlK5— Lis Lopes (@lislopees1) January 19, 2026
A grasp couturier, Valentino Garavani was revered for his impeccable cuts, luxurious materials, and peerless eveningwear. His double-faced coats and fits showcased technical brilliance, whereas his robes embodied a imaginative and prescient of femininity that demanded consideration. “A lady should trigger heads to show when she enters a room,” he famously stated.
Central to that imaginative and prescient was his signature hue: Valentino crimson. Impressed by a teenage encounter with the opera “Carmen in Barcelona,” the colour grew to become his talisman. From his very first assortment, Valentino Garavani ensured there was at all times not less than one crimson costume—for luck, for affect, for legacy. Vogue editor Diana Vreeland as soon as declared of his robes, “They need to raise the useless.”
From Voghera to Paris: The Making of a Couturier
Born on Could 11, 1932, in Voghera, Italy, Valentino Garavani confirmed an obsession with magnificence from childhood. Supported by indulgent mother and father, he left for Paris at 18, enrolling on the École des Beaux-Arts and later the Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne. Apprenticeships with Jean Dessès and Man Laroche refined his understanding of material and type, getting ready him for independence.
In 1959, Valentino Garavani returned to Rome and opened his atelier on By way of Condotti. Early shoppers included Elizabeth Taylor, however worldwide fame adopted his 1962 Florence present and, quickly after, his affiliation with Jacqueline Kennedy. Her resolution to put on Valentino designs, together with for her 1968 wedding ceremony to Aristotle Onassis, cemented his international popularity nearly in a single day.
A World Model and a Swish Farewell
An enormous loss for the style world💔
Relaxation in peace #ValentinoGaravani 🕊️ pic.twitter.com/X7lCvA96pd— Anne Hathaway (@AnneeJHathaway) January 19, 2026
Over the many years, Valentino Garavani dressed royalty, actresses, supermodels, and fashionable celebrities, from Audrey Hepburn to Anne Hathaway, Naomi Campbell to Zendaya. His red-carpet presence grew to become a benchmark of magnificence. In 1998, he bought the corporate for round $300 million, navigating the complexities of company possession earlier than saying his retirement in 2007.
His closing couture present in 2008 was a triumph, closing with a procession of an identical Valentino crimson robes. In retirement, Valentino Garavani returned to drawing for pleasure, tending his gardens, and reflecting on a profession celebrated by means of exhibitions and honors worldwide. But questions of legacy lingered. Was he the final of his form?
Maybe Valentino Garavani answered it greatest himself, with attribute wit and self-awareness: “I like magnificence. It’s not my fault.” In his passing, vogue loses not only a designer, however an thought of magnificence lived with out apology.
Featured picture: Patrick Demarchelier
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