Valentino Garavani, creator of Valentino red, dies at 93

Valentino Garavani dies at his Roman residence at age 93, the Valentino Foundation and the designer’s personal Instagram account announced, saying he “passed away today at his Roman residence, surrounded by his loved ones.” The founder of the Valentino house built one of the most recognizable signatures in modern fashion, from the sweep of evening gowns to the unmistakable crimson shade known as Valentino red, and now leaves a global luxury business and cultural iconography to navigate his absence.

Born Valentino Clemente Ludovico Garavani on May 11, 1932, in Voghera, Lombardy, he founded the Valentino fashion house in 1960 and for decades dressed royalty, first ladies and movie stars. His clients included Jackie Kennedy Onassis, Elizabeth Taylor, Audrey Hepburn, Sophia Loren, Princess Diana and many contemporary stars, cementing an association between haute couture and public spectacle. Valentino expanded the brand into ready‑to‑wear, menswear and accessories, turning a couture atelier into a diversified luxury enterprise.

The designer’s career was also a story of business evolution. In 1998 he and his partner sold the label to an Italian conglomerate for an estimated $300 million, yet Valentino continued to work with the company. He formally retired from active design in 2008 after more than 45 years, closing his tenure with a star‑studded final show at the Musée Rodin in Paris where models walked in identical red gowns, a theatrical coda that underscored his mastery of fashion as pageant and craft.

Public arrangements are being made in Rome. Valentino will lie in state at PM23, Piazza Mignanelli 23, the foundation’s Rome headquarters, on Wednesday Jan. 21 and Thursday Jan. 22 from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. The funeral is scheduled for Friday Jan. 23 at 11:00 a.m. at the Basilica Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri, Piazza della Repubblica 8.

Valentino’s influence stretched beyond garments to the institutional fabric of fashion. He accumulated honors including Chevalier de la Légion d’honneur from France, the Medal of the City of Paris, the Couture Council Award for Artistry of Fashion from the Museum at FIT and the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement, alongside Italian state distinctions. Those accolades recognized both artistry and the commercial scale he achieved in turning couture into a global luxury brand.

The house he built has also reflected changing dynamics in creative leadership. After his retirement Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli were named creative directors; Chiuri moved on to Christian Dior in 2016, Piccioli left Valentino in 2024 and later joined Balenciaga, and Alessandro Michele has led Valentino’s design direction for nearly two years. His death arrives as the label balances heritage codes with contemporary market pressures, from digitalization and younger consumers to sustainability and the shifting rhythms of celebrity culture.

Valentino’s public persona blended punctilious taste with private eccentricities: he was famously devoted to his pugs and quipped in a documentary “I don’t care about the collection… My dogs are more important” and dryly predicted “After me, the deluge.” Those remarks capture a designer who made glamour feel personal and who shaped how nations, institutions and popular culture imagine luxury. His passing marks the end of an era in which old‑world couture set the terms for red‑carpet spectacle, while the business he forged faces the task of translating that legacy for a new century.