Valentino Garavani, in 1968. PAUL POPPER/POPPERFOTO VIA GETTY IMAGES
Flame-red gowns designed for divas, a glamorous and flattering aesthetic for golden occasions, a host of jet-set muses and the lifestyle to match: these are some of the images that will endure from Valentino Garavani, the founder of the Valentino fashion house, and his half-century in haute couture. The designer passed away in Rome on January 19, at the age of 93.
Throughout his life, the ambition of this couturier, whose style evoked the films of Luchino Visconti, remained unchanged: to adorn women without seeking to upend their wardrobes. By his own admission, Garavani was not a revolutionary. Nevertheless, he created a recognizable style grounded in fluid lines, rich colors, floral motifs, pleats, ruffles and sheer fabrics, all imbued with a distinctive romantic and neoclassical spirit.
Garavani came from Voghera, a town in Lombardy, where he was born on May 11, 1932. He arrived in Paris at the very beginning of the 1950s and studied at the Ecole de la Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne, then worked for two postwar fashion luminaries, Jean Dessès and Guy Laroche. But it was in Rome that he founded his own fashion house in 1960, alongside his partner Giancarlo Giammetti, whom he met in a café on Via Vittorio Veneto. From his very first collection, the style that would endure for decades was set: luxurious fabrics, dizzying embellishments and that vibrant, blood-red hue now known as "Valentino red."
