Valentino

Valentino Garavani, best known as Valentino (born 11 May 1932) is the Italian fashion designer who founded the Valentino brand and company. His fashion house is among the world's most famous haute couture and ready-to-wear fashion empires.

Valentino studied fashion design and French at the Accademia dell Arte in Milan - he then went to the Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne. While still a student, he was awarded a prize for fashion design by the International Wool Secretariat (later won by both Yves Saint Laurent and Karl Lagerfeld).

Valentino became known for his red dresses, in the bright shade that became known in the fashion industry as "Valentino red".

During his 45 years of designing he dressed many celebrities including Jackie Kennedy and even designed her wedding gown when she wed Greek tycoon Aristotle Onassis.

On September 4, 2007 Valentino announced that he would retire fully from the world stage after his last Haute-Couture show in Paris. He delivered his last women's Ready-to-wear show in Paris on October 4. His last haute couture show was presented in Paris at the Musée Rodin on January 23, 2008. At his final show he received a standing ovation from the entire audience, which included hundreds of notable names from all areas of show business. Many models returned to show for Valentino's last haute couture show, including Eva Herzigova, Naomi Campbell, Claudia Schiffer, Karolina Kurkova and Karen Mulder.
Valentino was presented with the Medal of the City of Paris the following day Thursday January 24, 2008 for his services to fashion in the city where he was educated.
The new designer at Valentino's brand is Alessandra Facchinetti, the former designer at the House of Gucci.

Valentino movie - "Valentino: The Last Emperor"
Valentino: The Last Emperor, a feature-length documentary on the designer premiered at the 2008 Venice International Film Festival. Produced and directed by Matt Tyrnauer, Special Correspondent for Vanity Fair magazine, the film follows Valentino and his inner circle throughout various events, including last year's anniversary show celebrating his 45 years of career. In production from June 2005 to July 2007, the filmmakers shot over 250 hours of footage with exclusive, unprecedented access to Valentino and his entourage. "We were let in to the inner circle, but we had to stick it out for a long time, practically move in, to capture the truly great moments", says Tyrnauer. "Valentino is surrounded by a tight-knit family of friends and employees, but, eventually, their guard came down and they forgot there was a camera crew in the room."
The film had its North American premiere at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival.

As of late, Valentino has been making his rounds among the media including Oprah and The View to promote the documentary. It is open in select theatres this week.