• by Tanya Gazdik , Yesterday

Valentino Garavani, the Italian designer who launched his company in 1960, died at his home in Rome on Monday. He was 93.

Garavani, or Valentino as he was simply known to fashion enthusiasts around the world “found worldwide fame dressing European royals, American first ladies, and stars of the day,” according to Vogue. 

Valentino’s early assignments included a cream lace wedding dress for former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy for her wedding to Aristotle Onassis in 1968. 

“He went on to design wedding dresses for some of the world's most famous people,” according to ABC News. “As the business continued to grow alongside Valentino's reputation as a designer to the stars, the fashion house diversified their business, selling products including perfume.”

Valentino “created one of the most durable and fashionable labels and became an equal of his high society customers,” according to The New York Times. “In the process he — and his business partner and closest associate, Giancarlo Giammetti — also earned Italian fashion a seat in the inner circle of Parisian couture ateliers, paving the way for Italian brands that came after such as Armani and Versace; built a fortune in licenses; and became the first designer name brand quoted on the Milan stock exchange. And he achieved that rare thing in fashion: a smooth transition away from the runway.”

His namesake label, which he stepped down from in 2008, was not without critics. Just six weeks ago, his company was slammed after unveiling an advertisement featuring AI, according to the New York Post.

But even more recently, a slew of celebrities wore Valentino designs to the Golden Globe Awards, including Colman Domingo, Natasha Lyonne, Hannah Einbinder, Adam Brody, and Omar Apollo, according to Yahoo Entertainment. 

“Until his later years, when he stopped appearing in public, the label’s creator continued to attend its couture and ready-to-wear shows, beaming majestically from the front row,” according to The New York Times. 

Celebrities and fellow designers took to social media Tuesday to pay tribute to the designer and friend including Gwyneth Paltrow and Kim Kardashian, according to USA Today. His namesake fashion house posted a tribute on its website and social media including the early photo of Valentino (above.)

“At some point, you do get to the end,” Valentino told The New Yorker in a 2005 interview. “And, when I do, I hope I will be remembered as a man who pursued beauty wherever he could. But when we are done we are done. And that will be the end of it. Finito. After all, this kind of dress is like a Ferrari. If you ever really thought about it, you would never do it.”