Iconic Designer Valentino Garavani Dies at 93, Closing a Chapter in Italian High Fashion

Farewell to one of the last emperors of Italian fashion in capital letters. According to the foundation that bears his name on Monday, Valentino Garavani died today at the age of 93 at his Roman residence and “surrounded by his loved ones”.

Born in Voghera, in 1932, Valentino built a career that marked contemporary Italian luxury. The iconic couturier approached the creation of Haute Couture as a craft, the atelier as his main office and glamour as an international language with which to seduce the jet set hungry for iconic, daring and recognizable designs. Over time, his language eventually became synonymous with an elegance recognizable at first glance, with Valentino red as its emblem.

His apprenticeship was, from the beginning, a mixture of schools: he trained in Milan and completed his education in Paris, where he worked with leading names such as Jean Dessès and Guy Laroche. From that period she inherited a method linked to discipline in cutting, an obsession with proportion and an idea of dress as construction. This rigor, applied to a profoundly Italian sensibility, permeated her work even when fashion turned to the functional or casual.

In 1960, back in Italy, he founded Valentino in Rome with Giancarlo Giammetti, business partner and decisive figure in the projection of the house. The brand grew on the border between the couture workshop and the public scene, supported by a clientele that acted as a loudspeaker and broadened its media visibility. Jackie Kennedy was one of its iconic clients and Hollywood made its name one of the must-haves on the red carpets.

Valentino passed away on Monday in Rome at the age of 93.

Valentino retired in 2008, but the company followed its own industrial path. The house consolidated itself as a coveted asset on the luxury board, with a business supported by fashion and accessories, and an increasing weight of direct retail in its distribution model.

Valentino is today controlled by MFI Luxury, a company 70% owned by Mayhoola and 30% by Kering. The French group bought that 30% in 2023 for 1.7 billion euros, with an agreement that included an option to take over the entire company at a later date.

In September 2025, Kering and Mayhoola revised the timing of the pact and postponed that control option. The shareholding structure will not move until at least 2028, at a time of heightened vigilance over profitability in the luxury sector.

The size of the legacy is also measured in figures. Valentino closed 2024 with a turnover of 1.31 billion euros, down 2% at constant exchange rates. The ebitda fell by 22% to 246 million euros, penalized by extraordinary costs linked to investments in directly managed stores, in a year of market slowdown, especially in Asia.

The company is now owned by Mayhoola and Kering.

This tension was also transferred to financing. In November 2025, Kering and Mayhoola agreed to a €100 million injection into the company after defaulting on commitments linked to a €530 million loan signed in 2024.

Valentino’s death comes with his brand installed in another logic. Today his designs have more to do with a legacy that has become a global company, with shareholders, cycles and profitability objectives. Today, it has the Italian Alessandro Michele at the helm of creative direction, after years of critical success under the design of Pierpaolo Piccioli.

In Italy, the goodbye resonates more strongly due to the proximity of another loss. Last September, Giorgio Armani passed away. In just a few months, Italian fashion has bid farewell to two surnames that were more national institutions than designers.

As detailed by the foundation, the funeral chapel will be held on Wednesday and Thursday, while the funeral will take place on Friday morning in Rome.