Image courtesy of airbeam.it
Valentino Garavani, the founder and former creative director of Italian luxury brand Valentino, has passed away. The death was announced on Instagram by the Fondazione Valentino Garavani e Giancarlo Giammetti that “peacefully passed away today at his residence in Rome, surrounded by the love of his family,” as reported in fashionista.com.
Born in 1932 in Voghera, a town in the region of Lombardy, Valentino moved to Paris as a teenager to study fashion at Chambre Syndicale de Couture Parisienne. After his studies in Paris, Valentino worked as an apprentice with Jacques Dessès and later worked for five years at Guy LaRoche‘s atelier in Paris.
Image courtesy of glamobserver.com
In 1960 Valentino partnered with Italian architect Giancarlo Giammetti to start his eponymous brand, Valentino. His first collection contained the iconic red ‘Fiesta’ dress with every collection moving forward always including at least one red dress or gown, which came to be known as ‘Valentino Red.’
Valentino’s big break came in 1962 when his couture collection, shown in Florence, Italy, catapulted him to the top of Italian couturiers. Valentino won the Neiman Marcus Award in 1967 and designed Jackie Kennedy’s wedding gown to Aristotle Onassis that same year.
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The Valentino brand experienced a stratospheric rise in the 1970s as Valentino Garavani spent a lot of time in New York City, infusing his collections with American and New York City inspirations. In the 1980s Valentino expanded his empire, later selling his company to Holding di Partecipazioni Industriali, but he remained as creative director and designer until 2008, when he released his final ready-to-wear collection.
Valentino Garavani’s funeral will be held on Friday, Jan. 23 at the Basilica Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri, in Piazza della Repubblica 8 in Rome at 11 a.m.
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