Valentino Garavani

Valentino Garavani was born in Voghera, north of Milan, Italy on the 11th of May, 1932. Possessing a very precocious interest for the world of art and fashion, he soon became interested in clothes design. Following a few years' of apprenticeship in the Fashion Houses of Jean Desses and Guy Laroche, Valentino decided to return to Rome at the beginning of the 1960s in order to open his own atelier in Via Condotti. Those were the years of the Dolce Vita and several Hollywood stars who went to Rome then discovered Valentino and determined his fame status quite quickly.

Valentino's international debut took place in 1962 in the city of Florence, which was the Italian fashion capital of the time. His first show taking place at the Pitti Palace was warmly welcomed as a true revelation and the young couturier was quickly submerged by orders from several foreign buyers and enthusiastic comments from the press.

At the end of the 1960s Valentino met Giancarlo Giammetti, an architecture student who abandoned University in order to become his business partner. Giammetti's entrepreneurial genius soon prove itself most fundamental to the worldwide expansion and success of the House.

Valentino's White Collection in 1967 in which the winning "V" first made its apparition, turned him into one of the foremost kings of fashion.

The lace mini-dress he designed for Jacqueline Kennedy's marriage to Aristotle Onassis quickly made the covers of all the top magazines throughout the world. By the year of 1972 Valentino had already launched his women's and men's ready-to-wear collections and opened his first boutiques in the cities of Rome and Milan. His dog's name Oliver gave his name to Valentino's younger line of garments.

In the years to come, Valentino extended his range of products bearing his signature by turning his ideas and designs into various sectors of attire (neckties, shirts, accessories, jeans) and interior decoration (textiles, tiles, furniture, wallpaper). In 1978 he launched his own perfume during a gala in Paris, where the guest star Mikhail Baryshnikov was seen dancing to Tchaikowski's La Dame de Pique at the Champs Elyséés Théatre.

Valentino's expansion continues today with a chain of boutiques in the USA and in Japan. 1989 marks the opening of the Academia Valentino, a cultural space which was located near his atelier in Rome, for the presentation of many of his art exhbitions. The year later, encouraged by their friend Elizabeth Taylor, Valentino Garavani and Giancarlo Giammetti created L.I.F.E., an ssociation for the support of AIDS related patients, which benefits from the activities of the Accademia Valentino.
 

Today the "V" logo is famous all over the world. Women such as Jacqueline Kennedy, Farah Diba and Elizabeth Taylor have worn his exquisite princess-like creations.

Find fashion by Valentino @ the following eshops: