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“I think a woman dressed in red is always wonderful. She is the perfect image of a heroine,” Valentino Garavani, esteemed Italian fashion designer, once wrote in the book Valentino Rosso. Published in 2022, it was a 304-page odyssey dedicated to the single hue that became the heartbeat of his long legacy.
Now, at 93, the “Last Emperor” has taken his final bow. And even though he did not live to a hundred as his dear friend and muse Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis might have hoped, he lived long enough to see his identity bleed into a signature shade.
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Today, the fashion world both mourns and celebrates the architect of a dream that was always, and will forever be, tinted in red.
The Epiphany
He was only a teen when he experienced an artistic awakening that dictated the next decades of his life. In the Gran Teatre del Liceu of Barcelona, while attending a performance of George Bizet’s Carmen with his father, a thought formed in Valentino’s mind:
“All the costumes on the stage were red…All the women in the boxes were mostly dressed in red, and they leaned forward like geraniums on balconies, and the seats and drapes were red too…I realized that after black and white, there was no finer color.”
He recounted that his gaze locked onto a single woman with silver hair, draped in scarlet velvet. A stranger. To him, she was “isolated in her splendor”. It was the vision of this unnamed, untouchable woman that convinced a young Valentino that if he were to ever dress the world, he would do so in crimson.
That teenage vow manifested in his debut Spring-Summer 1959 collection. The world was still recovering from the austerity of the post-war era when Valentino unleashed “La Fiesta”—a strapless, mid-length tulle dress of vibrant intensity.
Since that day, Valentino ensured every collection he sent down the runway included at least one red dress. It became the designer’s ritual of superstitious necessity, and eventually, a branding so potent it rivaled the logos of the world’s great heritage houses.
His Final Bow
When the time came for him to take his leave in 2007, he refused the notion of a quiet exit. The closing walk of his final Spring/Summer 2008 Haute Couture collection was undoubtedly memorable. Every model graced the catwalk clad in Valentino Red. That crimson tide was his farewell as he entrusted the legacy of his house to designers like Alessandra Facchinetti.
He once remarked that red was “a non-fading mark, a logo, an iconic element of the brand, a value.” He understood, perhaps better than any, that while silhouettes might shift and trends might tire, an emotion was eternal. The sun has set on Valentino Garavani’s earthly journey. But his mark does not lie in his archives alone.
For as long as there is a woman who dares to embrace the color of a poppy in full bloom, he will continue to live on.
Swipe below to see more of Maison Valentino’s unforgettable designs.
Photos: VALENTINO (via Instagram), ANNE HATHAWAY (via Instagram), THE WALL GROUP (via Instagram), WHAT THE FROCK (via Reddit) and MEDIA FOR UPDATES (via X)
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