Legendary Fashion Designer Valentino Garavani Has Died at 93 Years Old

The fashion world mourns another great name. Valentino Garavani, one of the legendary protagonists of Italian and global fashion, has passed away at the age of 93. Born in Voghera, Garavani’s life spanned from Paris to the Dolce Vita in Rome, finally arriving in New York and achieving global success. At a time when the term “celebrity” didn’t yet exist, everyone wanted to wear Valentino and his signature red, a precursor to the use of color as a distinctive brand trait.

In Paris, he worked with Jean Dessès and Guy Laroche, in Rome with Emilio Schuberth, and at Vincenzo Ferdinandi’s atelier, until the founding of his own fashion house in 1957. His friendship and working relationship with Giancarlo Giammetti marked another turning point in the designer’s career, and two years later he opened his first boutique in Rome.

It’s impossible to summarize Garavani’s life and professional accomplishments in a single article: suffice it to say that with him passed the last member of a dynasty of great Italian couturiers, a dynasty that survives today in part through all the designers who shared a phase of their career with Valentino. Although Valentino stepped away from fashion in 2007, leaving the direction of the brand to Alessandra Facchinetti, the importance of his work has continued to permeate the brand that bears his name in the years that followed.

Whoever took the reins confronted a creative universe that today seems far away, one in which Valentino Garavani’s creations took shape. With him, not only does one of the last great icons of fashion leave us, but arguably also a personality who shaped the fashion world in his own image.

This article was originally published by GQ Italy.