VALENTINO GARAVANI

By: Maritza Villarroel
Exclusivamente para Rex Fabrics
Fine Fabrics from Around the World

Valentino Garavani was born in the town of Vohera, located South of Milan, Italy, on May 11, 1932.  At the age of 17, he leaves his hometown and relocates to Paris, where he learned the trade at the workshops of Guy Laroche and Jen Desses.

Several years later, after opening his first store in Rome in 1957, Valentino was on his way to the top of his career designing clothes for the most glamorous women of those days who were all the rage, like Elizabeth Taylor, Jackie Kennedy, Audrey Hepburn, among many others, who gave him the opportunity to be the most talented designer of that time.

A profound look into the designing artist can bring to our mind some of his greatest events with the most famous designs worn by famous show women, social life women and high class women of society.  His dedication to his work was such, that he relied on magnificent models and actresses, who wore his most spectacular designs, such as Naomi Campbell, Claudia Schiffer, Anne Hathaway, Gwyneth Paltrow; he was the creator of the sophisticated lines of perfumes for men and women that swamped the markets in Europe.

His particular characteristic is based on the easy design of haute couture in brides’ gowns that he creates for their fashion show, based on his own belief that women are elegant and sophisticated and are able to look special each day of the year.

Within a range of 45 years of career in the world of fashion, he decides to create a collection of dresses in the different shades of the color red, which he names “ Rojo Valentino”, designed in a fan of shades of fire red to the simple red, that only an artist like him has been able to create in a collection of dresses of different tonalities and textures, which became a total rage; this is how he celebrated his 45 years of work and glory in the world of modeling.

A documentary was dedicated to the life of this famous Italian designer, showing the day to day from his start, his family and friends, and it participated in various movie festivals in Venice and Chicago, being acknowledged and prizewinning in this last city.