Italian fashion designer Valentino Garavani dies at 93

Joseph Wilkinson, New York Daily News on Jan 19, 2026

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Valentino Garavani, the Italian fashion designer who built a world-famous luxury brand around his first name, has died. He was 93.

Valentino died at his home in Rome “surrounded by his loved ones,” according to a statement on the fashion house’s social media pages. His cause of death was not released.

The Valentino brand became one of the biggest in fashion in the 1960s, and Valentino himself — who hardly ever used his last name — became known for designing stunning red dresses.

Valentino’s partnership with Jacqueline Kennedy in the 1960s made the two of them some of the biggest fashion icons of the era, and Valentino designed Kennedy’s dress for her wedding to Aristotle Onassis.

“Jacqueline Kennedy’s 1968 couture ensemble is not only an important piece of fashion history marking the emergence of one of the most stylish women in the world — Jackie O — but it also showcases an important design in maison Valentino’s history,” said Marissa Speer of Bonhams’ auction house, which sold the dress for more than $24,000 in 2024.

Valentino styled a wide variety of notable and fashionable women, and his work showed up in places both brilliant — Elizabeth Taylor wore a red Valentino dress for the 1960 “Spartacus” premiere — and bizarre — Farah Diba, the wife of the Iranian shah, wore a Valentino dress to flee the nation in 1979.

Always carrying himself with an unmistakable air of grandeur and elegance, Valentino happily luxuriated among famous friends while keeping his fashion philosophy simple.

“He’s the only designer who lived the life that people think designers should live,” hat designer Philip Treacy said of Valentino at his final show in 2008, which Valentino left “dry-eyed and tanned from a ski holiday,” The New York Times wrote.

He also made a cameo as himself in “The Devil Wears Prada” with one of his favorite actresses, Meryl Streep, which he later referred to as “a great, great honor.”

After nearly five decades as the defining name in Italian haute couture, Valentino’s final show and its preparation were also subject of a documentary, fitting titled “Valentino: The Last Emperor.”

“I know what women want,” he said in the film. “They want to be beautiful.”

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