Italian designer Valentino Garavani, whose luxurious dresses adorned some of the world’s most elegant women from Jackie Kennedy to Audrey Hepburn, has died aged 93, his foundation said on Monday.
Valentino’s death comes just months after the passing of another Italian style legend, Giorgio Armani, and there were tributes from the global fashion world and beyond.
“Valentino Garavani passed away today at his Roman residence, surrounded by his loved ones,” his foundation said in a statement.
A funeral is planned for Friday in the Italian capital and there will be a lying in state at his company headquarters near the Spanish Steps on Wednesday and Thursday.
Within minutes of the announcement, memories of the elegant and tanned designer began to flood social media.
“Today, we lost a true maestro who will forever be remembered for his art,” wrote Donatella Versace on Instagram.
Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni called the designer the “undisputed master of style and elegance and eternal symbol of Italian high fashion”.
“Today Italy loses a legend...” she wrote.
One of the top designers of his era -- best known as just Valentino -- his creations were worn by the who’s who of the international elite, from Elizabeth Taylor and Nancy Reagan through to Sharon Stone, Julia Roberts and Gwyneth Paltrow.
He was best known for his gowns in deep rich “Valentino red”.
On the catwalk and in his own life, Valentino exuded luxury down to the last detail of his immaculate hairdo and caramel tan, often photographed with multiple pug dogs at his side.
The black and white dress he designed for Roberts, which she wore when she won an Oscar in 2001 for her performance in Erin Brockovich, was widely praised.
He dressed generations of the world’s rich and powerful and was dubbed “The Last Emperor” in a 2008 film about his life and his final collection.
Valentino’s creative director Alessandro Michele celebrated him as “a central figure in the history of Italian culture”.
He said Valentino had “widened the boundaries of what is possible, crossing the world with a rare sensibility, a silent rigour and an unbounded love of beauty”.
Iconic London department store Harrods celebrated him in a statement as “one of the last true titans of fashion”.
Luca De Meo, chief executive of luxury giant Kering, praised him as “an exceptional creator” who “embodied a sense of style that has profoundly shaped our collective imagination”.
Valentino was born on May 11, 1932 in Voghera, a small town south of Milan. His father owned an electric cables business.
After training and working in Paris, he opened his own fashion house in 1960 in Rome.
A meeting with Jackie Kennedy in 1964 that would prove decisive.
He transformed her wardrobe, and in 1968 she picked an ivory-coloured lace dress from his famous white collection for her second marriage to Greek shipping mogul Aristotle Onassis.
It caused a sensation in the United States, and in 1970, Valentino was the first Italian designer to open a shop in New York. Over the years he would elevate the “Made in Italy” label to global prominence.
He was assisted by his lover Giancarlo Giammetti, who had business know-how and would help transform the company into a global brand, shepherding it through successive buy-outs.
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