Valentino (fashion designer)

Valentino Clemente Ludovico Garavani (born 11 May 1932), known mononymously as Valentino, is an Italian fashion designer, the founder of the Valentino brand and company.

His main lines include Valentino, Valentino Garavani, Valentino Roma, and R.E.D. Valentino.

Valentino was born in Voghera, in the Italian province of Pavia.

His mother named him after screen idol Rudolph Valentino.

He became interested in fashion while in primary school in his native Voghera, when he apprenticed under his aunt Rosa and local designer Ernestina Salvadeo, an aunt of noted artist Aldo Giorgini.

Valentino then moved to Paris to pursue this interest with the help of his mother Teresa de Biaggi and his father Mauro Garavani.

There he studied at the École des Beaux-Arts and at the Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne.

His first choice for an apprenticeship, in Paris, was Jacques Fath, then Balenciaga.

He found an apprenticeship with Jean Dessès where he helped Countess Jacqueline de Ribes sketch her dress ideas.

He then joined Guy Laroche for two years.

After five years, Valentino left Jean Dessès over an incident about prolonging a vacation in Saint-Tropez that still makes him uncomfortable today.

Rescued by his friend Laroche, he joined his "tiny, tiny" fashion house.

After discussions with his parents, he decided to return to Italy and set up in Rome in 1959, as pupil of Emilio Schuberth and then collaborated with Vincenzo Ferdinandi's atelier before opening his own fashion house.

In 1960 Valentino left Paris and opened a fashion house in Rome on the posh Via Condotti with the backing of his father and an associate of his.

More than an atelier, the premises resembled a real "maison de haute couture".

Everything was very grand and models flew in from Paris for his first show.

Valentino became known for his red dresses, in the bright shade that became known in the fashion industry as "Valentino red".

On 31 July 1960, Valentino met Giancarlo Giammetti at the Café de Paris on the Via Veneto in Rome.

One of three children, Giammetti was in his second year of architecture school, living at home with his parents in the haut bourgeois Parioli section of Northern Rome.

That day Giammetti gave Valentino a lift home in his Fiat and a friendship, as well as a long-lasting partnership, started.

The day after, Giammetti was to leave for Capri for vacation and, by coincidence, Valentino was also going there, so they met again on the island 10 days later.

Giammetti would shortly thereafter abandon the University to become Valentino's business and life partner.

When Giammetti arrived, the business situation of Valentino's atelier was in fact not brilliant: in one year he had spent so much money that his father's associate pulled out of the business, and had to fight against bankruptcy.

Valentino's international debut took place in 1962 in Florence, the Italian fashion capital of the time.

At some point in 1964, Jacqueline Kennedy had seen Gloria Schiff, the twin sister of the Rome-based fashion editor of American Vogue and Valentino's friend Consuelo Crespi, wearing a two-piece ensemble in black organza at a gathering.

It made such an impression that Kennedy contacted Ms. Schiff to learn the name of the ensemble's designer, which was Valentino.

In September 1964, Valentino was to be in the United States to present a collection of his work at a charity ball at New York's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel.

Mrs. Kennedy wanted to view the collection but could not attend the event, so Valentino decided to send a model, sales representative and a selection of key pieces from his collection to Mrs. Kennedy's apartment on Fifth Avenue.

Mrs. Kennedy ordered six of his haute couture dresses, all in black and white, and wore them during her year of mourning following President John F. Kennedy's assassination.

From then on, she was a devoted client and would become a friend.

Valentino would later design the white Valentino gown worn by Kennedy at her wedding to Greek tycoon Aristotle Onassis.

In 1966 he moved his shows from Florence to Rome where two years later he produced an all-white collection that became famous for the "V" logo he designed.

Throughout the 1970s, Valentino's womenswear for both couture and ready-to-wear generally followed the trends of the time, opening the decade with an emphasis on midiskirts worn over miniskirts, fitted, knee-high boots, trousers, and some ethnic looks, mostly with a fit-and-flare silhouette.

During these early seventies collections, his evening styles were often ruffled and sometimes had asymmetric hems, and his V logo ranged from prominent to subtle, sometimes paving seemingly every surface, as in 1970, other times a single, barely discernible letter on a belt or scarf.

In 1971, he paired more brightly colored midis and knee-length skirts with that year's vogue for hot pants, also continuing to show trousers like culottes and knickers with the gently flared standard trouser of the time.

He was noted for his tailored clothes.

A forties revival was a focus for a time, and Valentino showed platform shoes, padded shoulders, and knee-length skirts, along with occasional forays into thirties and fifties styles, all kept modern by an emphasis on pants.

In 1972, he started the year favoring trousers but ended it showing only skirts, including being one of the only designers to present day dresses in a period dominated by separates.

He did, though, endorse the favored full sleeves and layering that were seen on many runways and continued to move away from his trademark monotone or bicolor palette, often cream and/or red, and moved into brighter colors and prints.

He did knee-length, square-shouldered forties revival again in 1973, continuing with bright prints, including a Bakst influence.