A Valentino retrospective: 10 defining moments in history

As Alessandro Michele prepares to unveil his Spring/Summer 2025 collection for Valentino, we take a look back at the iconic house's rich history.

1. The beginning

The Maison Valentino was founded in 1959 by Valentino Garavani and Giancarlo Giammetti in Rome. From the very beginning, the house stood for creative designs, elegance and excellent craftsmanship, values that are still present over 60 years later.

Born in 1932 in Voghera, Italy, Valentino was always passionate about fashion, when he apprenticed under a local designer when in primary school. He moved to Paris to study at the ​​Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne when he was just 17, and went on to work with Jacques Fath, Balenciaga, Jean Dessès and Guy Laroche.

In 1959, he relocated to Rome with the aim of opening his own fashion house, which he did, after meeting architect Giancarlo Giammetti, who would become his business and life partner, taking over the non-creative aspects of the business.

2. The signature red dress

Few designs are as synonymous with Valentino as the iconic red dress. It made its appearance in the very first collection, for Spring/Summer 1959, a design called the Fiesta (worn here by Jennifer Aniston for the UK premiere of Along Came Polly in 2004). It is said to have been inspired by a night at the opera, when a teenage Valentino was mesmerised by the actors all wearing red for a production of Carmen.

The strapless, knee-length tulle gown came in a bold red hue that would quickly become the house's signature colour. It was such an immediate hit that it is credited with putting the designer firmly on the sartorial map, and the designer has included a red dress in every single collection since then.

The poppy-red colour is now known industry-wide as "Valentino red" and even boasts its own Pantone shade. It is such a meaningful colour for the house that for Valentino Garavani's last collection in 2007, all the models wore red dresses for the finale.

Since his exit, subsequent creative directors - Alessandra Facchinetti, Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli, then Pierpaolo Piccioli solo - have honoured this tradition by including red in their own collections.

3. Valentino and Jacqueline Kennedy/Onassis

Every designer has their muse, and for Valentino, it was Jackie O. The former first lady of the United States moved to New York in 1964, following the assassination of her husband John F. Kennedy in 1963.

That same year, Valentino flew to the city to present his new collection, which Jackie loved so much that she ordered six haute couture looks from. Thus began a beautiful, lasting relationship which saw Jackie wear almost exclusively Valentino.

The designer himself credited her with making his label a success, calling it the "Valentino Boom".

She later wore one of his designs to wed Greek tycoon Aristotle Onassis in 1968. Rather than it being custom made for the wedding, it was actually a dress she already owned.

4. Oscar-winning fashion

Valentino gowns have been a main fixture on the red carpet from the label's very beginnings (Elizabeth Taylor wore Valentino to the premiere of Spartacus in 1961, and the very next day asked the designer for seven free outfits to thank her for the publicity).

But they've also been a luck charm for actresses who picked up the most prized statuette of all: the Oscar.

In 1983, Jessica Lange chose a mint green sequinned gown for her win, while Sophia Lauren picked up her honorary Oscar in 1991 in an eye-catching black sequinned dress.

And who can forget the black and white dress Julia Roberts wore in 2001, to pick up her Best Actress gong for her role in Erin Brockovich? Still considered one of the best Oscar dresses of all time, it was part of the Couture 1992 collection.

5. Valentino brides

Of course, plenty of royals, celebrities and socialites have chosen Valentino designs for their big day. As previously mentioned, Jackie Kennedy wore an off-the-rack design to say "I do" to Aristotle Onassis. In 2001, Jennifer Lopez walked down the aisle to Cris Judd in a white lace dress with matching veil.

Gwyneth Paltrow wore a similar style when she married Brad Falchuk in 2018. In 2015, Nicky Hilton got married to James Rothschild in London, in a stunning high-neck lace dress designed by Creative Directors at the time Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli.

Other famous Valentino brides include Nicola Peltz-Beckham, Anne Hathaway, Princess Madeleine of Sweden, Princess Marie-Chantal of Greece, Courteney Cox and Elizabeth Taylor (for her last wedding to Larry Fortensky).

6. Valentino in pop culture

You know you've truly made it when you land a cameo on the big screen. Valentino Garavani played himself in the blockbuster hit The Devil Wears Prada. In an interview, the film director, David Frankel, revealed that they'd shot most of the movie before finding out that Valentino would be in New York when they wanted to film New York Fashion Week scenes. Valentino agreed to be part of the film, and the crew recreated his entire show for the scene, during which Meryl Streep's character Miranda Priestley meets him backstage.

He said at the time, "Just doing a little cameo, being in this film with Meryl Streep was a great honour".

The designer also played himself in Zoolander 2 in 2016, and cameos aside, his creations have taken centre stage in shows such as Sex And The City, And Just Like That (Carrie's magnificent orange couture gown in the finale of the first season) and Emily in Paris.

7. The British Fashion Awards 2023

Valentino Wins The Outstanding Achievement Award at The Fashion Awards 2023 - YouTube

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In December 2023, Valentino Garavani was honoured with an outstanding achievement award at the British Fashion Awards in London. During the ceremony, models walked onto the stage wearing some of his most famous red dresses, including the Fiesta. While the man himself couldn't make it, his partner Giancarlo Giammetti accepted the award on his behalf.

His longtime friend Gwyneth Paltrow was there to present the award, wearing red in his honour, admitting she didn't normally like the hue.

8. The Autumn/Winter 2022 collection

Pierpaolo Piccioli was the Creative Director of Valentino from 2008 to 2024 (jointly with Maria Grazia Chiuri to 2016 before she helmed Dior), and one of his most memorable shows was for the Autumn/Winter 2022 Couture collection. Set on Rome's famous Spanish Steps, it was a nod to the label's origins, with its location (a stone's throw away from the atelier and flagship store), to the designs (the opening look, a mini dress covered in red roses, was a modern take on the first red dress, the Fiesta).

"This is a deeply personal collection, because it’s all about the history of Valentino", he said at a pre-show conference, adding that he had a need "understand how much of myself there is in today’s Valentino, and how much of Valentino there is in my identity".

Having seen a fashion show on these very steps when he was a student, which sparked his love of fashion, he invited 120 students from Rome's fashion schools to see the show.

9. The pink collection

Arguably Pierpaolo's most famous collection, the pink collection, aka the Autumn/Winter 2022 ready-to-wear collection turned all our social feeds completely pink. At Paris Fashion Week, guests were greeted by a hot pink runway, setting the tone for the collection, which was itself almost entirely pink. Piccioli worked closely with Pantone to create the shade, named Pink PP, and the designs were an immediate hit, with celebrities like Zendaya and Florence Pugh wearing it on the red carpet.

10. Alessandro Michele's Valentino

Earlier this year, it was announced that Gucci's former Creative Director Alessandro Michele would take over at Valentino. And while many expected his Spring/Summer 2025 show to be his first, he surprised everyone by dropping a collection online on the final day of Milan Men's Fashion Week.

Aptly named "Avant les Débuts" (before the beginnings), the pre-Spring 2025 collection consisted of no fewer than 171 looks, spanning across ready-to-wear, accessories and jewellery. There were plenty of his retro and rococo touches within the designs, which included houndstooth coats, ruffle shirts, plaid suits, sweater vests, silk scarves and plenty of printed separates.

If this is a sign of things to come, bring on the SS25 collection...