Valentino Garavani, who passed away at the age of 93 Monday was, without question, the last surviving great of 20th century couturier.
At varying moments in his life he was dubbed ‘the last emperor,’ and ‘the Sheik of chic.’
‘In Italy, there is the Pope,’ Walter Vetroni told the New Yorker in a 2005 profile, ‘and there is Valentino.’
A man who dressed queens, princesses, Hollywood stars and First Ladies, Valentino, the man and the brand, emerged as the epitome of Italian high glamour. ‘I know what women want, they want to be beautiful,’ he told a reporter in 2009.
Having built a multi-million dollar brand with his career-long business partner (and, at the start, lover) Giancarlo Giammetti, Valentino moved seamlessly into retirement in 2007.
A scion of elegant living, he all but disappeared from a runway by then ruled by designers who took their final bows in jeans, t-shirts and sneakers.
His jet set lifestyle encompassed five homes – including a 19th-century London mansion, a villa on the Appian Way in Rome, a Chalet in Gstaad and the legendary Château de Wideville outside Paris, once the home of Louis XIV’s mistress, Louise de La Valliere.
In later years, his 152-foot yacht – the TM Blue One- played host to the coterie of Hollywood celebrities, including Gwyneth Paltrow, Anne Hathaway (and even Princess Diana) who, alongside his bevy of pugs, surrounded the invariably tanned and elegantly coiffed designer as he sailed around the Mediterranean.
In later years, his 152-foot yacht – the TM Blue One- played host to a coterie of Hollywood celebrities, including Gwyneth Paltrow, pictured with the designer in 2019
Like his compatriot Giorgio Armani, who trod a diplomatic line when it came to who he dressed, Valentino found himself the purveyor of clothes to women of all political and social stripes. From Jackie Kennedy to Hollywood stars and, finally, to Melania Trump, his designs defined generations of women who understood elegance as a social key and clothes a marker not only of taste but of message.
Elizabeth Taylor, 1960 Rome Premiere of Spartacus
One of his earliest and most famous clients was Elizabeth Taylor who, in 1960, appeared at the premiere of Spartacus in white Grecian style maxi-dress trimmed with a lush double row of ostrich feathers.
One of Valentino’s earliest and most famous clients was Elizabeth Taylor who, in 1960, appeared at the premiere of Spartacus in white Grecian style maxi-dress, trimmed with a lush double row of ostrich feathers
When Taylor was photographed in the arms of Kirk Douglas as the two danced into the early hours of the morning, the dress grabbed headlines. Supposedly a Dior outfit had been waiting in the wings in Taylor’s hotel dressing room, but the star gave Valentino a chance and, in doing so, initiated what became a lifelong friendship and creative partnership.
Ten years earlier, Valentino then 17, had moved to Paris to attend the École des Beaux Arts and the Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne. Having trained under the Greek designer, Jean Dessés and then Guy Laroche, he returned to Rome where he established himself on the Via Condotti.
Jackie Kennedy Wedding Dress to Aristotle Onassis, 1968
Chosen from the designer’s Spring/Summer 1968 all-white collection, the two piece high-neck lace top and and pleated skirt was a world away from the crinoline confection by New York society designer Ann Lowe that Jackie wore to her wedding to John F Kennedy in 1953.
For her controversial second marriage, which was formalized on Onassis’s private Greek island, Skorpios, she chose a haute couture creation that came to represent her leap from Camelot to the Jackie O years, and life as an American style icon.
For her marriage to shipping magnate Onassis, Jackie chose a haute couture Valentino creation. It came to represent her leap from Camelot to the Jackie O years
The former First Lady had begun to patronize Valentino almost immediately after her husband’s assassination.
After spotting a Valentino creation worn by Vogue editor and friend, Gloria Schiff, Jackie ordered six dresses that became the staples of her mourning wardrobe, showcasing Valentino’s designs and helping to solidify his status as a major European designer.
When she married Onassis, Jackie’s image appeared on the front of almost every major newspaper, rendering the dress iconic.
Diana, Princess of Wales, 1992
Though obliged by precedent to wear primarily British designers, in the early 1990s Diana began to venture further afield. As her marriage broke down, she increasingly found her style footing with couturiers outside the confines of traditional court life.
On January 23, 1992, while attending the Hong Kong Gala at the Barbican Center in London, the princess stepped out in an above-the-knee burgundy Valentino cocktail dress.
As her marriage broke down, Princess Diana increasingly found her style footing with couturiers outside the confines of traditional court life
The velvet corset bodice was an elegant contrast to the translucent lace skirt, creating a sexy look that laid bare not just Diana’s toned physique but an increasing public confidence as she moved away from the world of royalty and into that of international celebrity.
In 1994 she was photographed by Patrick Demarchalier in striking simplicity wearing a floor-length red halter-neck dress by Valentino. The image eventually graced the cover of British Vogue as a tribute following her tragic death on August 31, 1997.
Wedding Dress of Crown Princess Marie Chantal of Greece, 1995
In 1995 Valentino was tasked with creating the wedding dress for the marriage of duty-free heiress Marie Chantal Miller to Pavlos, the Crown Prince of Greece, in a London ceremony that was masterminded by King Constantine of Greece – a man eager to demonstrate that even a king in exile has sway.
Attended by 450 guests, including Queen Elizabeth II, and a bevy of other European royals, the wedding was beamed via satellite to Hampton Court Palace where a further 805 guests had assembled.
The gown and its creative impresario were at the heart of celebrations that lifted the little-covered Greek monarchy in exile onto the front pages of the world’s tabloids.
In 1995 Valentino was tasked with creating the wedding dress for the marriage of duty-free heiress Marie Chantal Miller (pictured with her father Robert Miller) to Pavlos the Crown Prince of Greece
It featured a lace bodice and long sleeves decorated with floral motifs and an ivory skirt, studded with rose appliques. The four-and-a-half meter Chantilly lace veil with scalloped edge and butterfly embroidery was held in place by the antique corsage tiara, borrowed from the bride’s soon-to-be mother-in-law Queen Anne Marie of Greece.
The selection of Valentino was, in part, an homage to his beginnings in the studio of Greek designer Jean Dessés who had been one of the favored designers of the groom’s grandmother Queen Frederica.
The gown proved Valentino’s credentials for royal weddings, and he went on to design the wedding dresses of Queen Maximo of the Netherlands and Princess Madeleine of Sweden (a commission for which he came out of retirement).
Yet the collaboration between Valentino and Marie Chantal translated into a genuine friendship between the bride and both Valentino and his partner Giancarlo. In 2001 he appeared alongside Marie-Chantal at the Met Costume Institute Gala who wore a green silk one shouldered evening dress modeled after one first worn by Jackie Kennedy in 1967.
Such was their enduring bond that when the Greek princess moved her family to New York in 2017, the designer duo were among the first guests to pay her a visit – even attending their first party in the New York brownstone they now called home.
Julia Roberts, Oscars 2001
The black and white Valentino couture 1992 dress that Julia Roberts wore to the 2001 Academy Awards where she accepted a Best Actress Oscar for her performance in Erin Brockovich not only kick-started a trend amongst Hollywood celebrities for ‘vintage,’ but reinvigorated the image of a star whose fashion sense had been at best uneven.
The black and white Valentino couture 1992 dress that Julia Roberts wore to the 2001 Academy Awards where she accepted a Best Actress Oscar reinvigorated the image of a star whose fashion sense had been at best uneven
Chosen by stylist Debbie Mason, the black column gown with white piping had been slightly too small for Roberts when she tried it on at the Valentino boutique in Beverly Hills.
With the skills of an in-house tailor, the dress that the actress just thought ‘pretty’ reminded the world that, despite Valentino struggling through the grunge era that embodied 90s style codes, he had continued to create clothes that felt both modern and timeless.
Having been worn on the fashion runway by Christy Turlington when it was presented at the couture collection in 1992, the dress proved so popular that copies began to pop up in American malls and subsequently graced many a high school prom.
Melania Trump, Bastille Day in Paris, 2017
Though Valentino retired from his eponymous brand in 2008, his influence continued over the subsequent individuals who took up his creative wand.
Melania Trump in 2017 wearing a Valentino dress
In 2017 Melania Trump chose a floral jacquard Valentino dress to watch the traditional military parade down the Champs-Elysées.
Part of a whirlwind presidential visit to the French capital, the dress, with its floral pattern, was chosen to pay homage to the carnations, poppies and wheat that people carried in May 1947 on the same street to celebrate the liberation of Paris.
‘I love Valentino, period,’ Melania’s stylist Herve Pierre declared. The dress was designed by Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli for the Resort 2017 collection.
The brand epitomized a strain of European chic embraced not only by Melania’s iconic predecessor Jackie Kennedy, but by the many royal consorts.
Melania’s choice to opt for it telegraphed very clearly that she saw in those consorts a role analogous to her own, reminding the world that, though often silent, the First Lady knows exactly how to make her message heard.
