Italian fashion designer Valentino Garavani, founder of the luxury fashion house that bears his name, has died, his foundation announced Monday. He was 93.
Known globally simply as Valentino, Garavani retired from active fashion design in 2008 after a career that helped define modern haute couture. He built Valentino into an international luxury brand and became synonymous with an instantly recognizable shade known as “Valentino red.”
“Valentino Garavani passed away today at his Roman residence, surrounded by his loved ones,” the foundation said in a statement posted on Instagram.
The foundation said Garavani will lie in state on Wednesday and Thursday, with funeral services scheduled for Friday in Rome.
Valentino was widely regarded as one of the last great designers of a generation that shaped fashion before it evolved into a highly commercialized global industry. He was often mentioned alongside Giorgio Armani and Karl Lagerfeld as a defining figure of that era.