ROME — Valentino Garavani, the Italian fashion designer dubbed “the last emperor,” and the creator of the shade of “Valentino red,” died on Monday at his home in Rome. He was 93.
His death was announced in a statement by the Fondazione Valentino Garavani e Giancarlo Giammetti, The New York Times reported.
“Valentino Garavani was not only a constant guide and inspiration for all of us, but a true source of light, creativity and vision,″ the foundation said.
Valentino founded the company that bears his name in 1959. His designs were favorites of stars such as Jennifer Aniston, Gwyneth Paltrow, Nicole Kidman and Anne Hathaway, according to People.
“In Italy, there is the Pope — and there is Valentino,” Walter Veltroni, who was the mayor of Rome, said about the designer in a profile that appeared in The New Yorker.
He was always referred to by his first name or by “Mr. Valentino,” the Times reported. The newspaper noted that Garavani “created and sold an image of high glamour that helped define Italian style for generations.”
The designer was born Valentino Clemente Ludovico Garavani on May 11, 1932, in Voghera, Italy. He studied fashion design at the École des Beaux-Arts and the Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne in Paris, People reported. Garavani also served apprenticeships with Jacques Fath and Balenciaga.
Legendary Italian Fashion Designer Valentino has died at the age of 93, his foundation announced on Monday.
— Deadline (@DEADLINE) January 19, 2026
The foundation said the designer, whose full name was Valentino Garavani, died in his home in Rome on January 19.
Across his career, Valentino dressed a host of stars… pic.twitter.com/vLTgtu8ezg
As a designer, Valentino said he did not strive to be a trend-setter.
“It is very, very simple,” he told the Times in a 2007 interview. “I try to make my girls look sensational.”
Some of his creations included the cream lace dress Jacqueline Kennedy wore when she married Greek tycoon Aristotle Onassis in 1968, the Times reported.
He also designed the dress that Bernadette Chirac wore when her husband Jacques was sworn in as president of France in 1995, according to the newspaper.
Other celebrities who had dresses designed by Valentino included Sharon Stone, Barbra Streisand, Sophia Loren, Elizabeth Taylor, and Monica Vitti.
Valentino announced his retirement in 2007.
“At this time, I have decided that is the perfect moment to say adieu to the world of fashion,” he told the Times. “As the English say, I would like to leave the party when it is still full.
“I have been very lucky to be able to do what I have loved all my life. There can be few greater gifts than that.”
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