The legendary Italian fashion designer Valentino Garavani—most widely known by the single moniker 'Valentino'—passed away in Rome yesterday, on January 19 2026, aged 93. The sad news was announced via Instagram in a statement from the Valentino Garavani and Giancarlo Giammetti Foundation that stated he "peacefully passed away... at his residence in Rome, surrounded by the love of his family."
Garavani founded his eponymous luxury fashion house in 1959, and soon earned worldwide renown as a master of glamour, refined elegance and timeless femininity. One of the most celebrated couturiers of the 20th century (and beyond), he dressed the likes of Audrey Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor, Princess Margaret and Sophia Loren, and famously designed Jacqueline Kennedy's dress for her 1968 wedding to Aristotle Onassis.
