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Accessibility links - [Skip to main content](https://www.npr.org/2026/01/19/1114518694/valentino-garavani-dead#mainContent) - [Keyboard shortcuts for audio player](https://help.npr.org/contact/s/article?name=what-are-the-keyboard-shortcuts-for-using-the-npr-org-audio-player) ![]() ****Loading**** - **Hourly News** - **Listen Live** - **My Playlist** - Open Navigation Menu - [](https://www.npr.org/) - ****  WAMU 88.5 - ******Listen Live****WAMU 88.5 (HD 88.5-1)****** - [donate](https://www.npr.org/donations/support) - [Change](https://www.npr.org/stations/) [Sign in or register](https://www.npr.org/account/login) to see your station everywhere you enjoy NPR. - [Newsletters](https://www.npr.org/newsletters/) - [Sign In](https://www.npr.org/2026/01/19/1114518694/valentino-garavani-dead)Personalize Your Experience - [NPR Shop](https://shopnpr.org/) - [Donate](https://www.npr.org/donations/support) - [Local Station](https://www.npr.org/donations/support) - [NPR Network](https://contribute.npr.org/) Close Navigation Menu - [Home](https://www.npr.org/) - [News](https://www.npr.org/sections/news/) Expand/collapse submenu for News - [National](https://www.npr.org/sections/national/) - [World](https://www.npr.org/sections/world/) - [Politics](https://www.npr.org/sections/politics/) - [Business](https://www.npr.org/sections/business/) - [Health](https://www.npr.org/sections/health/) - [Science](https://www.npr.org/sections/science/) - [Climate](https://www.npr.org/sections/climate/) - [Race](https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/) - [Culture](https://www.npr.org/sections/culture/) Expand/collapse submenu for Culture - [Books](https://www.npr.org/books/) - [Movies](https://www.npr.org/sections/movies/) - [Television](https://www.npr.org/sections/television/) - [Pop Culture](https://www.npr.org/sections/pop-culture/) - [Food](https://www.npr.org/sections/food/) - [Art & Design](https://www.npr.org/sections/art-design/) - [Performing Arts](https://www.npr.org/sections/performing-arts/) - [Life Kit](https://www.npr.org/lifekit/) - [Gaming](https://www.npr.org/sections/gaming/) - [Music](https://www.npr.org/music/) Expand/collapse submenu for Music - [Tiny Desk](https://www.npr.org/series/tiny-desk-concerts/) - [New Music Friday](https://www.npr.org/sections/allsongs/606254804/new-music-friday) - [All Songs Considered](https://www.npr.org/sections/allsongs/) - [Music Features](https://www.npr.org/sections/music-features) - [Live Sessions](https://www.npr.org/series/770565791/npr-music-live-sessions) - [The Best Music of 2025](https://www.npr.org/2025/12/10/g-s1-99930/best-music-of-2025) - [Podcasts & Shows](https://www.npr.org/podcasts-and-shows/) Expand/collapse submenu for Podcasts & Shows Daily - [ Morning Edition](https://www.npr.org/programs/morning-edition/) - [ Weekend Edition Saturday](https://www.npr.org/programs/weekend-edition-saturday/) - [ Weekend Edition Sunday](https://www.npr.org/programs/weekend-edition-sunday/) - [ All Things Considered](https://www.npr.org/programs/all-things-considered/) - [ Up First](https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510318/up-first/) - [ Here & Now](https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510051/here-x26-now/) - [ NPR Politics Podcast](https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510310/npr-politics-podcast/) Featured - [ Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me\!](https://www.npr.org/programs/wait-wait-dont-tell-me/) - [ Fresh Air](https://www.npr.org/programs/fresh-air/) - [ Wild Card with Rachel Martin](https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510379/wild-card-with-rachel-martin) - [ It's Been a Minute](https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510317/its-been-a-minute) - [ Planet Money](https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510289/planet-money) - [ Get NPR+](https://plus.npr.org/?utm_medium=nprweb&source=globalsubnav) - [More Podcasts & Shows](https://www.npr.org/podcasts-and-shows/) - [Search](https://www.npr.org/search/) - [Newsletters](https://www.npr.org/newsletters/) - [NPR Shop](https://shopnpr.org/) - [Sign In](https://www.npr.org/2026/01/19/1114518694/valentino-garavani-dead)Personalize Your Experience - [ ](https://www.npr.org/music/) - [Tiny Desk](https://www.npr.org/series/tiny-desk-concerts/) - [New Music Friday](https://www.npr.org/sections/allsongs/606254804/new-music-friday) - [All Songs Considered](https://www.npr.org/sections/allsongs/) - [Music Features](https://www.npr.org/sections/music-features) - [Live Sessions](https://www.npr.org/series/770565791/npr-music-live-sessions) - [The Best Music of 2025](https://www.npr.org/2025/12/10/g-s1-99930/best-music-of-2025) - [About NPR](https://www.npr.org/about/) - [Diversity](https://www.npr.org/diversity/) - [Support](https://www.npr.org/support/) - [Careers](https://www.npr.org/careers/) - [Press](https://www.npr.org/series/750003/press-room/) - [Ethics](https://www.npr.org/ethics/) **Italian fashion designer Valentino Garavani dies at 93** **Garavani built one of the most recognizable luxury brands in the world. His clients included royalty, Hollywood stars, and first ladies.** ### [Culture](https://www.npr.org/sections/culture/) # Italian fashion designer Valentino dies at 93 January 19, 20262:58 PM ET By [Maison Tran](https://www.npr.org/people/1105327423/maison-tran)  Valentino Garavani attends the Valentino show as part of the Paris Fashion Week Womenswear Spring/Summer 2017. **Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images** ****hide caption**** ****toggle caption**** Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images Italian fashion designer Valentino died Monday at his Roman residence. He was 93. His foundation announced his death [on Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/p/DTswZhnDBkV/?hl=en&img_index=1). Dubbed an "international arbiter of taste" by *Vogue*, notable women wore his designs at funerals and weddings, as well as on the red carpet. He dressed the likes of Audrey Hepburn and Jackie Onassis, as well as modern stars from Anna Wintour to Gwyneth Paltrow and Zendaya. The image of style and lavish living, Valentino's signature features included crisp suits and a "crème brûlée" complexion — due to his fervor for tanning. He was heavily inspired by the stars he saw on the silver screen and had a lifelong fixation with glamour. Sponsor Message "I love a beautiful lady, I love a beautiful dog, I love a beautiful piece of furniture. I love beauty, it's not my fault," he said in *The Last Emperor*, a 2008 documentary about him. In the world of haute couture, Valentino embraced sophistication, elegance, and traditional femininity through his dresses and trademarked a vibrant red hue. His work embodied romance, luxury and an aristocratic lifestyle. He was born Valentino Garavani and named after the silent movie star Rudolph Valentino. A self-described spoiled child, the designer acquired a taste for the expensive from a young age; his shoes were custom-made, and the stripe, color, and buttons of his blazers were designed to his specifications. His father, a well-to-do electrical supplier, and his mother, who appreciated the value of a well-made garment, catered to their young son's refined palate and later supported his fashion endeavors, sending him to school and financing his early work. Growing up in the small town of Voghera, Italy, he learned sewing from his Aunt Rosa in Lombardy. After high school, he moved to Paris to study fashion and take on apprenticeships. Valentino owed much of his success to his former lover and business partner, Giancarlo Giammetti. The two met in a café on the famed Via Condotti in Rome in 1960, where Valentino had opened his first couture studio. Sponsor Message They founded Valentino Company the same year, and its first ready-to-wear shop opened in Milan in 1969. Together, the pair built a fashion empire over five decades. They separated romantically when Valentino was 30, but remained business partners and close friends. Valentino knew little about business and accounting before meeting Giammetti; together, they formed two parts of a whole — Giammetti the business mind, and Valentino the creative force. "Valentino has a perfect vision of how a woman should dress," Giammetti told Charlie Rose in 2009. "He looks for beauty. Women should be more beautiful. His work is to make women more beautiful." They sold the Valentino company in 1998 for nearly\$300 million. It made \$1.36 billion in revenue in 2021, according to Reuters. Even after his retirement in 2008, he couldn't completely leave fashion behind and continued to design dresses for opera productions. Once the fashion world became more accessible to the public, millions of aspiring fashionistas bought jeans, handbags, shoes, umbrellas, and even Lincoln Continentals with his gleaming "V" monogram. 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 Valentino Garavani attends the Valentino show as part of the Paris Fashion Week Womenswear Spring/Summer 2017. **Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images** ****hide caption**** ****toggle caption**** Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images Italian fashion designer Valentino died Monday at his Roman residence. He was 93. His foundation announced his death [on Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/p/DTswZhnDBkV/?hl=en&img_index=1). Dubbed an "international arbiter of taste" by *Vogue*, notable women wore his designs at funerals and weddings, as well as on the red carpet. He dressed the likes of Audrey Hepburn and Jackie Onassis, as well as modern stars from Anna Wintour to Gwyneth Paltrow and Zendaya. The image of style and lavish living, Valentino's signature features included crisp suits and a "crème brûlée" complexion — due to his fervor for tanning. He was heavily inspired by the stars he saw on the silver screen and had a lifelong fixation with glamour. "I love a beautiful lady, I love a beautiful dog, I love a beautiful piece of furniture. I love beauty, it's not my fault," he said in *The Last Emperor*, a 2008 documentary about him. In the world of haute couture, Valentino embraced sophistication, elegance, and traditional femininity through his dresses and trademarked a vibrant red hue. His work embodied romance, luxury and an aristocratic lifestyle. He was born Valentino Garavani and named after the silent movie star Rudolph Valentino. A self-described spoiled child, the designer acquired a taste for the expensive from a young age; his shoes were custom-made, and the stripe, color, and buttons of his blazers were designed to his specifications. His father, a well-to-do electrical supplier, and his mother, who appreciated the value of a well-made garment, catered to their young son's refined palate and later supported his fashion endeavors, sending him to school and financing his early work. Growing up in the small town of Voghera, Italy, he learned sewing from his Aunt Rosa in Lombardy. After high school, he moved to Paris to study fashion and take on apprenticeships. Valentino owed much of his success to his former lover and business partner, Giancarlo Giammetti. The two met in a café on the famed Via Condotti in Rome in 1960, where Valentino had opened his first couture studio. They founded Valentino Company the same year, and its first ready-to-wear shop opened in Milan in 1969. Together, the pair built a fashion empire over five decades. They separated romantically when Valentino was 30, but remained business partners and close friends. Valentino knew little about business and accounting before meeting Giammetti; together, they formed two parts of a whole — Giammetti the business mind, and Valentino the creative force. "Valentino has a perfect vision of how a woman should dress," Giammetti told Charlie Rose in 2009. "He looks for beauty. Women should be more beautiful. His work is to make women more beautiful." They sold the Valentino company in 1998 for nearly\$300 million. It made \$1.36 billion in revenue in 2021, according to Reuters. Even after his retirement in 2008, he couldn't completely leave fashion behind and continued to design dresses for opera productions. Once the fashion world became more accessible to the public, millions of aspiring fashionistas bought jeans, handbags, shoes, umbrellas, and even Lincoln Continentals with his gleaming "V" monogram. By the peak of his career, Valentino's popularity would rival that of the pope's in Rome.