VALENTINO

Valentino Cashmere

Valentino Clemente Ludovico Garavani best known as Valentino is founder of Valentino brand in 1959. The small atelier opens in Rome, after that Valentino had come back from Paris, where he had studied and worked for Guy Laroche and Jean Desses. In 1960 Valentino meets Giancarlo Giammetti who is to become his friend as well as long-lasting business partner. 

Giammetti joins just on time because the Valentino atelier has enormous expenses and is fighting against bankruptcy. The breakthrough is in 1962 in Florence. The collection is warmly welcomed by the audience and the press and Valentino starts to dress international celebrities like Jacqueline de Ribes, Babe Paley and Jayne Wrightsman. In 1968 follows another collection with huge success; the whole apparel is in white and the "V" logo becomes famous. 

In 1967 Valentino recives Neiman Marcus Fashion Award. Among his clients are Farah Diba, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Queen Paola of Belgium, Elizabeth Taylor, Audrey Hepburn, Gloria Guiness, Marisa Berenson, Veruschka and Princess Margaret. 

In the 1970s Valentino is spending considerable time in New York in the company of Diana Vreeland, the Vogue editor-in-chief, and Andy Warhol. In 1989 Accademia Valentino opens in Rome, this a cultural space for presentation of art exhibitions. 

The next year with the encouragement of his friend Elizabeth Taylor, Valentino and Giancarlo Giammetti create L.I.F.E., an association for support of AIDS-patients, sponsored by the benefits of Accademia Valentino. In 1998 Valentino and Giammetti sell the company to HdP, which sells it later in 2002 to Marzotto Apparel.