As you doubtless saw, one of the last titans of fashion design passed away over the weekend: Valentino Garavani, arguably the tannest man in fashion, died at age 93. I wish we had done more when we lost Giorgio Armani last year, but I can’t get that time back. Even now, you’ve probably already seen countless retrospectives of his work, including many of the same gowns: Julia’s glamorous vintage gown from when she won her Oscar, the canary frock Cate Blanchett wore to collect one for Supporting Actress, and dresses on everyone from Jackie Kennedy Onassis to Elizabeth Taylor to Princess Diana, to Sophia Loren.
Valentino began designing in 1959 and retired from his eponymous house with the Spring 2008 Couture show; since we had that available, I thought it’d be a fun way to start the day. I don’t have the entire show, and they’re definitely not in the same order, but it’s a solid representative sample. Let’s play fantasy stylist with his last output (excluding custom wedding gowns for his faves, like Anne Hathaway), and hey, maybe Alessandro Michele will dig into that archive as a tribute or use it for future inspiration.
