A death announced from Rome
Italian fashion designer Valentino Garavani has died at the age of 93, according to a statement released by the Valentino Garavani Foundation and by the creator’s longtime partner, Giancarlo Giammetti. The statement says he died Monday, Jan. 19, in his residence in Rome.
“He passed away peacefully in his Roman residence, surrounded by the affection of his loved ones,” the Foundation and Giammetti said in their communiqué (Valentino Garavani Foundation; Giancarlo Giammetti). The announcement quickly moved beyond fashion capitals to communities that followed his style code abroad.
Why Congo’s Sape follows global fashion legends
In Congo-Brazzaville and across the diaspora, Valentino’s name has long circulated in the world of Sape, the Society of Ambiance-Makers and Elegant People. The original report describes him as one of the “high priests” admired by musicians such as Papa Wemba and Rapha Boundzéki.
For many Sapeurs, labels are not only luxury items but also cultural signals: a way to stage elegance, discipline, and presence. In that universe, Valentino stood as a reference point—an international designer whose work helped define what “classic” could look like in a modern wardrobe.
From Voghera to Paris: a formative path
Valentino Clemente Ludovico Garavani—known worldwide simply as Valentino—was born May 11, 1932, in Voghera, in the province of Pavia. The article says his interest in fashion was encouraged by his parents, Mauro Garavani and Teresa de Biaggi.
That early passion led him to study both fashion and French before moving to Paris, a city the text describes as a global center of influence for style. His time in France was presented as the start of a long international career that would make him a legendary figure.
Apprenticeships that shaped a signature
In Paris, Valentino trained with two leading couturiers, Jean Dessès and Guy Laroche, the report says. He later returned to Italy to deepen his experience with Emilio Schuberth and Vincenzo Ferdinandi.
This back-and-forth between Paris and Italy helped define his approach: a couture discipline learned in France and refined in Rome. The piece also credits him with creating one of fashion’s most iconic shades of red, often referred to as “Valentino red.”
The Via Condotti atelier and a lifelong partnership
Valentino founded the Valentino fashion house in 1957, and a few years later opened his first atelier on Via Condotti in Rome, according to the text. The house’s trajectory changed with the arrival of Giancarlo Giammetti.
Giammetti, then an architecture student, met Valentino in a café in the capital in 1960, the report says. Their friendship and professional collaboration became central to the brand’s growth and lasted for a lifetime—an enduring partnership highlighted in the death announcement.
Dressing the world’s most famous women
Over decades, Valentino dressed some of the most famous women in the world, the original article notes, naming Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis, Elizabeth Taylor, Sharon Stone, and Linda Evangelista.
Those clients helped turn the designer into a household name beyond specialist fashion circles. Yet the fascination also traveled in other directions, reaching cultural scenes that read couture as a language—such as Congo’s Sape community, where international labels are carefully studied and performed.
A late-career transition and corporate milestones
The report says Valentino Garavani stepped down from running his fashion house in 2007. It adds that in July 2012 the house was sold to the Qatari group Mayhoola for Investments.
It further notes that in 2023 the group Kering acquired 30 percent of the capital of the Valentino group for 1.7 billion euros. These corporate shifts, as described, placed the label within a global investment landscape while keeping the Valentino name central to the brand’s identity.
The Valentino Foundation and a quieter legacy
Beyond fashion shows and red carpets, the article points to a philanthropic dimension: in 2016, Valentino and Giammetti created the Valentino Foundation. The death announcement itself came through the Foundation and Giammetti, underlining that institutional continuity.
In Congo, where style can be a personal philosophy as much as a social practice, the news lands with a specific emotional weight. As the original report puts it, lovers of Sape are losing a major symbolic figure—one whose aesthetic ideals have long been part of their reference library.