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"V" logo is famous all over the world. Women such as Jacqueline
Kennedy, Farah Diba and Elizabeth Taylor have worn his exquisite
creations. Valentino Garavani was born in Voghera, north of
Milan on May 11, 1932. While attending high school he shows
a precocious artistic temperament and soon becomes interested
in fashion. He takes courses in fashion design and studies French
to prepare himself to move to Paris. He is 17 years old when
he arrives in the then world capital of fashion and couture.
In the early 1950s, a 20-year-old Valentino Garavani immersed
himself in design classes. After working as a dedicated assistant
with Dess's for five years, and then for two more years with
Laroche, Valentino went back to Italy in 1959.
After a few years' apprenticeship in the Fashion Houses of Jean
Desses and Guy Laroche, Valentino returns to Rome at the beginning
of the 60s to open his own atelier in Via Condotti. Those are
the years of the Dolce Vita and many Hollywood stars who come
throgh Rome discover Valentino and determine his quick fame.
Immediately following his return to Italy, and thanks primarily
to the financial support of his family, Valentino opened his
own fashion house. After several years of climbing success,
Valentino unleashed his "Collection blanche," which was dedicated
to Jackie Kennedy, in 1967. In a fashion era where clothing
screamed with multiple, intense colors, "Collection blanche"
was shockingly simple. Valentino's subtle, classy white designs
were garnered with tiny, metallic, v-shaped emblems which would
become the highly sought-after insignia that crowns Valentino's
collections and perfumes today.
In1990, the Valentino Academy was founded in the hopes that
it would become a haven from which cultural and artistic pursuits
could flourish. Among numerous art expositions, the Valentino
Academy also welcomed the Life Association for its campaign
against AIDS.
Valentino's international debut takes place in 1962 in Florence,
the Italian fashion capital of the time. His first show at the
Pitti Palace is welcomed as a true revelation and the young
couturier is submerged by orders from foreign buyers and enthusiastic
comments on the press.
At the end of the 1960s Valentino meets Giancarlo Giammetti,
an architecture student who abandons the university to become
his business partner. Giammetti's entrepreneurial genius will
prove fundamental to the worldwide expansion and success of
the House. |
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