Italian fashion designer Valentino Garavani dies at 93

Italian fashion legend Valentino Garavani, whose elegant evening gowns were favoured for decades by some of the world’s most glamorous women, has died at 93, according to his foundation.

Born in the northern town of Voghera, Italy, in 1932, Valentino – who was popularly known by his first name – learned his trade in the haute couture ateliers in Paris before founding his own line in Rome in 1959.

Early on, he became known for his red dresses, in a rich scarlet shade that became his signature colour to the extent that it was known within the industry as “Valentino red”.

In 1960, he met his long-time business partner (and, for 12 years, romantic partner) Giancarlo Giammetti, then a young architecture student. Together, the pair turned Valentino SpA into an internationally recognised brand.

One of Valentino’s first famous customers was the actress Elizabeth Taylor, whom he met while she was filming Cleopatra in Rome in the early 1960s.

Other glamorous followers – and buyers – of Valentino’s work in the early years of his career included Begum Aga Khan, Queen Paola of Belgium, the actresses Audrey Hepburn and Joan Collins and Jacqueline Kennedy, who even wore a Valentino gown to wed Greek shipping giant Aristotle Onassis in 1968.

His popularity would continue as the decades progressed.

Valentino spent much of the 1970s in New York, surrounded by a wide circle of friends that included the artist Andy Warhol and Vogue editor Diana Vreeland. In the 1990s, he became a favourite of the decade’s supermodels, including Claudia Schiffer and Naomi Campbell.

His creations also featured regularly on the red carpet.

At the Oscars alone, noteworthy Valentino ensembles over the years have included the heavily-beaded gown Jane Fonda wore in 1981 when she accepted the Best Actor prize for her father, Henry; the vintage black-and-white gown Julia Roberts wore in 2001; the pastel mint caftan-style gown Jennifer Lopez wore in 2003 and the sunshine yellow gown Cate Blanchett wore in 2005. (Both Roberts and Blanchett won Oscars in those respective years.) At the 2002 Academy Awards, Anne Hathaway walked the red carpet in an ornate Valentino gown, accompanied by the designer himself.

In more recent years, Zendaya, Carey Mulligan and Gemma Chan have been among fashion plate Oscars attendees wearing the label to much acclaim.