When the news broke on 19 January 2026 that Valentino Garavani had passed away at his home in Rome at the age of 93, the response was immediate and global. Tributes arrived not just from fashion houses, but from film, art, and culture – a reminder that Valentino was never merely a designer, but a quiet architect of how elegance has been performed, remembered, and revered for more than half a century.
His death, announced by the Valentino Foundation, noted that he died “surrounded by his loved ones,” closing the final chapter of a life defined by discipline, beauty, and a singular creative vision. Days later, mourners gathered at the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri in Rome. Anne Hathaway, Anna Wintour, Donatella Versace, Tom Ford, and Elizabeth Hurley were among those in attendance – a roll call that spoke to the breadth of his influence.
In the days that followed, one thing became clear: Valentino’s legacy is not confined to an archive or a particular shade of red. It is embedded in the way fashion intersects with ceremony, power, and memory. To understand why his work continues to resonate – and what lies ahead for the house he built – requires tracing the story from the beginning.
From Voghera to Rome: The Making of a Couturier
Valentino Clemente Ludovico Garavani was born in Voghera, Lombardy, on 11 May 1932. From an early age, his instincts were clear. At just 17, he moved to Paris to study at the École des Beaux-Arts and the Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne, absorbing the rigour of French couture at a time when discipline was non-negotiable.
He trained under Jean Dessès and Guy Laroche – experiences that would shape his lifelong devotion to proportion, line, and restraint. When Valentino returned to Italy in 1959 and opened his first atelier on Via Condotti in Rome, it was with a vision that fused Parisian technique with Italian sensuality.
The moment of international recognition came in 1962, when Valentino presented his collection at the Pitti Palace in Florence. Critics praised the balance of structure and romance; clients responded to the refinement. The colour that would come to define the house – Rosso Valentino – emerged not as a flourish, but as a declaration.
Together with his business partner and lifelong companion Giancarlo Giammetti, Valentino expanded the maison into ready-to-wear, menswear, accessories, and fragrance, transforming a Roman couture house into a global luxury brand. Yet throughout its growth, the designer remained fiercely protective of the aesthetic codes he had established.
“The most enduring part of Valentino Garavani’s legacy is the proof that luxury is won through an unyielding standard,” Dr. Daniel A. Langer, a luxury strategy expert and CEO of Équité tells BurdaLuxury. “He showed the world that a brand does not need to pivot every season to stay at the summit.”
Milestone Dressing: When Fashion Meets History
If Valentino’s technical mastery secured his reputation, it was his ability to dress moments that cemented his place in cultural history. His clothes were rarely worn casually; they appeared at points of transition, triumph, and visibility – when what a woman wore became part of the narrative itself.
That dynamic was established early through his relationship with Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. When she chose Valentino to dress her during pivotal periods of her life – including her marriage to Aristotle Onassis in 1968 – it signalled a shift in modern elegance.
Hollywood followed suit. Elizabeth Taylor, Sophia Loren, and later Julia Roberts, Cate Blanchett, Penélope Cruz, and Anne Hathaway turned to Valentino not simply for glamour, but for gravity. Julia Roberts’ black-and-white Valentino gown at the 2001 Academy Awards – worn as she accepted her Oscar – remains one of the most cited red-carpet moments in history.
Colour played its own role in these narratives. Rosso Valentino became a visual shorthand for confidence and presence. Over time the hue evolved into an emotional language of its own – worn by supermodels, actresses, and more recently, by a new generation of stars, who reinterpreted Valentino couture through contemporary spectacle.
Alexis Bohomme, CEO and founder of Trinity Asia, frames this enduring appeal succinctly, telling BurdaLuxury: “Valentino’s cultural advantage is its long-standing position as a house for milestone dressing, tied to ceremony, romance and public-facing moments, reinforced by decades of high-visibility clientele.”
Stepping Back – Without Letting Go
Valentino formally retired from active design in 2008, closing his final couture show with a standing ovation in Paris. Before his retirement, he said that being a designer felt more like being a manager than a creative. “They want to make money now. If you want to make lots of money, you try to make a product that sells everywhere,” he once told The Talks. “But then your productivity goes down. The products are cheap because the materials are not really expensive. This is not my world, as you can imagine.”
Maria Grazia Chiuri then took the role of creative director, followed by Pierpaolo Piccioli, and the position is now held by Alessandro Michele. “Valentino endures because it sits at the intersection of couture discipline and recognisable brand equity,” Bohomme explains. “Precise silhouettes, exceptional finishing, and a set of house codes, led by Rosso Valentino, still carry cultural weight and commercial value – especially in a market shaped by short trend cycles.”
Despite Valentino stepping back from the brand, its legacy endures. “By committing to a singular, non-negotiable definition of beauty, he created a permanent home in the minds of the global elite,” says Langer. “Many houses fail today because they confuse constant movement with progress. Valentino understood that staying the course is often the most aggressive and successful strategy a leader can take.”
Asia: From Market to Cultural Anchor
As the brand expanded globally, Asia emerged as one of Valentino’s most significant regions – not only commercially, but symbolically. Boutique openings in Tokyo, Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Seoul were positioned less as retail rollouts and more as cultural statements, introducing Italian couture codes to markets deeply attuned to heritage and status.
In cities such as Shanghai and Hong Kong – long bridges between East and West – Valentino’s boutiques became spaces where craftsmanship was read as cultural capital. In Tokyo and Seoul, they evolved into destinations for both local elites and international travellers, reinforcing the idea that Valentino was not trend-driven, but timeless.
Valentino said he found inspiration in China. “I’m also inspired if I go to a museum like the Hermitage in St. Petersburg or if I visit China and see the old costumes of its national theatre,” he told The Talks.
His impact can be felt on Asian designers like India’s revolutionary Manish Malhotra, who has dressed celebrities from Bollywood icons to Tiger Shroff and Khushi Kapoor to the Kardashians, Jennifer Lopez, and Naomi Campbell. “Valentino Garavani leaves behind a legacy that shaped the very language of elegance,” Malhotra tells BurdaLuxury. “His work stood for discipline, clarity, and an uncompromising respect for craft, principles that continue to define fashion at its highest level.”
What Comes Next
Today, Valentino is creatively led by Alessandro Michele, who has been at the helm since 2024. Under his direction, the house has explored inclusivity, colour, and emotional storytelling while remaining anchored to couture discipline. His tenure has proven that evolution does not require erasure – that heritage can be translated rather than diluted.
Preserving the brand story is essential for sustaining long-term value. “This is not just about a specific shade of red or the brand archive,” explains Langer. “Valentino is a masterclass about a refusal to democratise the dream.” He says that when a luxury brand loses its exclusivity to chase volume, it “destroys the very essence that creates desire.” Valentino must “maintain the gap between its world and the mainstream.”
“The mission is to protect the high-fidelity vision of life that Valentino himself lived and breathed,” Langer adds. He observes that most luxury brands today lack clarity in “who they are” and “what their role in the world is.” Longevity, he argues, comes from the discipline to say no to easy, short-term revenue: “If a brand begins to chase the consumer, it enters a race to the bottom. Generation after generation, people seek out brands that remain immovable. It requires a leader who values the health of the brand in fifty years more than the growth of the next quarter.”
Financially, the brand is majority owned by Mayhoola, the Qatari investment fund, with Kering holding a strategic minority stake – a structure that provides both capital stability and operational expertise. Yet, as Bohomme points out, ownership alone does not determine success. “Strategically, Valentino’s heritage is also the runway: the brand has the codes and emotional capital to grow, but the challenge is converting that equity into consistent, contemporary relevance and execution,” he says. “That’s why the market is watching its reset closely, including Kering’s minority stake and the option structure that effectively maps the potential path to deeper ownership and acceleration.”
For Langer, the lesson is clear. “Luxury houses remain valuable across generations by playing the long game and having full clarity on their brand story.”
Valentino’s vision will remain the backbone of the brand. “I have always recognised in his journey the importance of conviction, of known one’s voice and standing firmly by it,” adds Malhotra. “The fashion world will miss him and his influence will remain deeply woven into its future.”
BurdaLuxury’s Lens
Valentino’s enduring power lies in its refusal to chase the moment. From our perspective, the house remains a masterclass in how technical rigour and instantly legible identity can coexist – precise silhouettes, impeccable finishing, and a visual language that requires no explanation. In Asia especially, where luxury consumers are deeply attuned to heritage and symbolism, Valentino’s codes act as cultural shorthand, signalling credibility as much as taste.
As fashion continues to accelerate, Valentino’s legacy offers a counterpoint: that longevity is built not on constant reinvention, but on clarity.
Valentino himself reflected on his legacy in his interview with The Talks. “I love to create clothes, I love beautiful things, I love beautiful houses, I love entertaining. If they want to call me an icon, okay, then I am an icon. What can I say?”
Valentino Garavani may be gone – but the world he built remains firmly, unmistakably intact.
