Italian fashion designer Valentino passes away at 93

One of the top designers of his era Italys elegance aficionado Valentino Garavani spent nearly half a century dressing the worlds great beauties from Jackie Kennedy to Princess Diana before his death Monday at age 93Valentino Garavani passed away today at his Roman residence surrounded by his loved ones wrote his Romebased foundation on social mediaA funeral is planned for Friday in the Italian capital with a lying in state on Wednesday and ThursdayBest known as just Valentino the Italian fashion designers creations many of them in Valentino red were worn by the whos who of the international elite from Elizabeth Taylor Audrey Hepburn and Nancy Reagan to Sharon Stone Julia Roberts and Gwyneth Paltrow in recent yearsWhen the empress of Iran Farah Pahlavi escaped the country during the 1979 revolution she was wearing a coat made by ValentinoDubbed the Sheik of Chic by Womens Wear Daily in the 1980s Valentino was celebrated by the New York Times in 1997 for his singleminded dedication to glamourOn the catwalk and in his own life Valentino exuded luxury down to the last detail of his immaculate hairdo and caramel tanWith his five pet pug dogs and a private jet he shuttled between his Roman palace New York apartment chateau near Paris chalet in Switzerland and his 50metre 164foot yachtBoyhood passionNamed after the star of silent cinema Rudolph Valentino who was known for The Sheik among many other films Valentino Garavani was born on May 11 1932 in Voghera a small town south of Milan His father owned an electric cables businessAs a boy he asked for madetomeasure shoes and was passionate about fashion I have had this illness since childhood he told the Italian edition of Elle magazine in 2007 I only like beautiful thingsI do not like seeing men without ties in a jumper women with vulgar makeup and shapeless trousers It is a sign of a bad education and a lack of selfrespectHe left home when he was 17 to study at prestigious arts and fashion schools in Paris where the decadent French style of Christian Dior had revitalised a grim postWorld War II fashion industry and would deeply impact Valentinos later aestheticIn 1952 he was hired by designer Jean Desses who dressed wealthy clients including royalty and five years later he went to work for Guy LarocheRome fashion empireIn 1960 Valentino opened his own fashion house in Rome at the time a thriving starstudded city thanks to its vast Cinecitta film studios that acted as a branch of HollywoodHe was assisted by his lover Giancarlo Giammetti who had business knowhow and would over the years transform the company into a global brand shepherding it through successive buyoutsBeing the friend lover and employee of Valentino for more than 45 years required a lot of patience Giammetti said in the 2008 documentary Valentino The Last EmperorValentino turned heads immediately with his opening collection in 1962 in Florence which already featured what would become his signature colour the deep rich Valentino redJackie KennedyIn his first decade Valentino dressed the likes of Anita Ekberg Sophia Loren and Liz Taylor but it was a meeting with Jackie Kennedy in 1964 that would prove decisiveHe transformed her wardrobe and in 1968 she picked an ivorycoloured lace dress from his famous white collection for her second marriage to Greek shipping mogul Aristotle OnassisIt caused a sensation in the United States and in 1970 Valentino was the first Italian designer to open a shop in New York Over the years he would elevate the Made in Italy label to global prominenceI love a woman who eats food who has a body that is a woman and not a stick he said quoted in The New Yorker in 2005 and underscoring his preference for sensual figurehugging designsEmperor bows outFor the 2006 Oscarnominated Hollywood film The Devil Wears Prada starring Meryl Streep as a powerful fashion editor Valentino made a cameo appearance at the recreation of one of his showsA year later and nearly a halfcentury after his first runway he presented his last collection in Paris before retiring in January 2008Valentino transported his audience to his world where women in bubble gum pink cocktail dresses swing bags made of feathers and have high heels tied with satin ribbons and bows said celebrated fashion critic Suzy Menkes in her writeup of the show in the New York TimesIn 2011 the Valentino Garavani Virtual Museum opened offering an immersive 3D experience into the history and creations of the fashion house and giving the world its firstever virtual fashion museumAt some point you do get to the end Valentino told The New Yorker in 2005 as he approached retirement And when I do I hope I will be remembered as a man who pursued beauty whenever he couldThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove 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