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Valentino Garavani (aka Mr. Valentino, aka the Last Emperor, aka the Sheik of Chic) died Monday, January 19 at his home in Rome.
Valentino was born on May 11, 1932 in Voghera, Italy — a small town south of Milan — to Teresa and Mauro Garavani, who owned an electrical supply company.
He was inspired to become a designer after seeing the lavish costumes in the 1941 MGM musical “Ziegfeld Girl” and, with the support of his parents, he moved to Milan to study fashion design before attending the École de la Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne in Paris.
After school, he spent five years working for Jean Dessès — known for dressing the queen of Greece — and two years at Guy Laroche before establishing his own studio in Rome in 1959 with the financial backing of his father and his friends.
In 1960, he met Giancarlo Giametti — then a second year architecture student — and the two became lovers and business partners. Although their intimate relationship eventually came to an end, they remained the best of friends. They were rarely apart and while Valentino focused on his designs, Mr. Giametti became the business-minded backbone of what would become his global fashion empire.
Valentino Garavani arrives at New York’s JFK airport on September 11, 1977. (Darleen Rubin via Getty Images)
Over the course of his career, Valentino designed for everyone from Jacqueline Kennedy to Elizabeth Taylor to Cate Blanchett, just to name a few.
The 2008 documentary “Valentino: The Last Emperor” gave the world a rare and intimate look at Valentino the man, not just the designer. And although he and Giametti disliked the film at first, it cemented Valentino’s status as an icon not just of fashion, but of 20th century arts and culture.
The same year the film was released, Valentino sold his namesake brand for a reported $300 million. But even in retirement, he continued to work: making one-off wedding dresses for women like Anne Hathaway and Princess Madeleine of Sweden; creating costumes for a 2016 production of “La Traviata” in Rome; and publishing a coffee table book featuring menus, recipes, and table setting from his five homes (and his yacht).
And until recently — when his advanced age and declining health lead him to shy away from the public eye — he could often be seen attending his brand’s ready-to-wear and couture runway shows, sitting front row and beaming proudly as other designers put their unique stamp on the iconic world he and Giametti built together with the utmost love, grace, and beauty.
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