PARIS (AP) 鈥� cast a long shadow over the opening day of menswear Tuesday, with front-row guests and industry figures mourning the passing of one of the last towering names of 20th-century couture 鈥� an Italian designer whose working life was closely entwined with the Paris runways.
Valentino, 93, died at his Rome residence, the Valentino Garavani and Giancarlo Giammetti Foundation said in a statement announcing his death. While he built his house in Rome, he spent decades presenting collections in France.
He 鈥渨as one of the last big couturiers who really embodied what was fashion in the 20th century,鈥� said Pierre Groppo, fashion editor-in-chief at Vanity Fair France.
On a day meant to sell the future, many guests said they were thinking about what fashion has lost: the couturier as a living institution.
Groppo pointed to the codes that made Valentino instantly legible 鈥� 鈥渢he dots, the ruffles, the knots鈥� 鈥� and to a generation of designers who, he said, 鈥渋n a way, invented what is celebrity culture.鈥�
Valentino鈥檚 vision was built on a simple idea: make women look luminous, then make the moment unforgettable.
He dressed Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Elizabeth Taylor, among others, fixed his signature 鈥淰alentino red鈥� in the public imagination, and 鈥� through his decades-long partnership with Giancarlo Giammetti 鈥� helped turn the designer himself into part of the spectacle, as recognizable as the clients in his front row.
The end of a fashion era
Prominent fashion writer Luke Leitch framed the loss in similarly outsized terms, calling Valentino 鈥渢he last of the fashion 鈥榣eviathans of that generation鈥�,鈥� and saying it was 鈥渁bsolutely鈥� the end of a certain class of designer: figures whose names could carry a global house, and whose authority came not from viral speed but from permanence.
Trained in Paris before founding his maison in Rome, Valentino became a rare bridge figure: Italian by origin, but fluent in the rituals that made Paris couture an institution. His career moved between those two capitals of elegance, bringing Roman grandeur into a system that still treats fashion not only as commerce, but as ceremony.
Even as he aged, the house鈥檚 founder kept turning up at its couture and ready-to-wear shows, as observed by one Associated Press journalist 鈥� until he eventually retreated from public life, all the while radiating quiet grandeur from his front-row seat.
For some in Paris on Tuesday, the loss felt personal precisely because Valentino鈥檚 world was never only Italian.
Groppo recalled the designer as 鈥渧ery much more than a fashion brand,鈥� adding: 鈥淚t was a lifestyle.鈥�
That lifestyle 鈥� couture polish, social glamour, and the conviction that elegance could be a form of power 鈥� remains a reference point even as fashion accelerates toward louder branding and faster cycles.
鈥淚t鈥檚 quite sad as he鈥檚 so important to the fashion industry, and he contributed a lot and I cannot forget the stunning red he created,鈥� said Lolo Zhang, a Chinese fashion influencer attending 鈥檚 show in Paris.
鈥淗e always celebrated pure beauty, and architecture for the silhouette, and how he used color. The old era just passed by.鈥�
Other guests described a delayed realization 鈥� the kind that arrives only when a figure who seemed permanent is suddenly gone.
YSL, Chanel and Valentino
鈥淭here are some people who want to be Yves Saint Laurent, Chanel. … There are also people who are spontaneously Valentino,鈥� said Guy-Claude Agboton, deputy editor of Ideat magazine. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a question of identity.鈥�
For Paris fashion observer Benedict Epinay, the grief was bound up with memory. And with the emotional charge of Valentino鈥檚 final bow.
鈥淚t was such a great moment. I was lucky enough to attend the last show he gave,鈥� Epinay said. 鈥淚t was so moving because we knew at that time it was the last show.鈥�
Fashion observer Arfan Ghani pointed to what Valentino represented to younger designers: a 鈥渃lassy鈥� standard of restraint in an era that often rewards noise.
鈥淏ecause it was very classical materials,” Ghani said. “It wasn鈥檛 as loud as a lot of other of these brands are with branding.鈥�
Paris-based sculptor Ranti Bam described Valentino in the language of form: less trend than structure, less look than line.
鈥淎s a sculptor I saw Valentino as an artist,鈥� Bam said. 鈥淗e transcended fashion into sculpture.鈥�
鈥淗e didn鈥檛 follow trends, he pursued form,鈥� she added. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 why his work doesn鈥檛 date, it endures.鈥�
The fashion house Valentino has for years continued under a new generation of leadership and design 鈥� still showcased in Paris.
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Corrects previous misspellings of Paris fashion observer Benedict Epinay and Guy-Claude Agboton, deputy editor of Ideat magazine.
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Associated Press writer Amy Seraphin in Paris contributed to this report.
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