Valentino then moved to Paris to pursue this interest with the help of his mother Teresa de Biaggi and his father Mauro Garavani.

After discussions with his parents, he decided to return to Italy and set up in Rome in 1959, as pupil of Emilio Schuberth and then collaborated with Vincenzo Ferdinandi's atelier before opening his own fashion house.

One of three children, Giammetti was in his second year of architecture school, living at home with his parents in the haut bourgeois Parioli section of Northern Rome.

[3] At some point in 1964, Jacqueline Kennedy had seen Gloria Schiff, the twin sister of the Rome-based fashion editor of American Vogue and Valentino's friend Consuelo Crespi, wearing a two-piece ensemble in black organza at a gathering.

[7][8] Throughout the 1970s, Valentino's womenswear for both couture and ready-to-wear generally followed the trends of the time, opening the decade with an emphasis on midiskirts[9] worn over miniskirts,[10][11] fitted, knee-high boots, trousers,[12] and some ethnic looks,[13][14] mostly with a fit-and-flare silhouette.

[22] A forties revival was a focus for a time,[23] and Valentino showed platform shoes,[24] padded shoulders, and knee-length skirts,[25] along with occasional forays into thirties and fifties styles,[26] all kept modern by an emphasis on pants.

[27] In 1972, he started the year favoring trousers but ended it showing only skirts,[28] including being one of the only designers to present day dresses in a period dominated by separates.

[39] During these early seventies collections, his evening styles were often ruffled[40] and sometimes had asymmetric hems,[41] and his V logo ranged from prominent[42] to subtle, sometimes paving seemingly every surface, as in 1970,[43][44] other times a single, barely discernible letter on a belt or scarf.

[45] The mid-seventies move toward fuller peasant silhouettes was seen in Valentino's work somewhat – dirndl skirts,[46] off-the-shoulder flounces, petticoats,[47] blousons,[48] shawls,[49] ponchos,[50] and layering,[51] but he deemphasized the look's characteristic boots[52] and was sometimes criticized for including styles that were too heavily constructed and stiff in this period of minimal construction and flowing shapes,[53][54] as well as for emphasizing conspicuous-consumption wealth projection during the more egalitarian atmosphere that prevailed in the mid-seventies.

[59][60] Along with many other designers, he continued to show this style the following year in stiffly structured, broad-shouldered jackets[61] and dresses presented with forties-fifties accessories like hats, gloves, and cinch belts.

[63] Throughout the 1970s Valentino spent considerable time in New York City, where his presence was embraced by society personalities such as Vogue's editor-in-chief Diana Vreeland and the art icon Andy Warhol.

[65][66] The era's conspicuous-consumption, 1940s-50s-inspired ballgowns, cocktail dresses,[67] and broad-shouldered, sharply tailored suits[68][69] were taken up with aplomb by Valentino, whose style at the time was similar to that of Givenchy and Oscar de la Renta.

[70][71] A few themes remained constant throughout his eighties collections: his familiar color groupings;[72][73][74] his penchant for blatant displays of luxury, wealth, and opulence;[75][76][77][78][79] broad shoulder padding;[80][81] and a more comfortable cut than he was showing at the start of the big-shoulder era at the end of the seventies.

In the first half of the eighties, he mostly followed the short, narrow skirt line with broad-shouldered tops also followed by Saint Laurent, Givenchy, Ungaro, and others,[83][84][85] but also presented longer, looser looks,[86][87] the chemise dresses of the era,[88][89] and a variety of pant shapes.

[108] In 1998 Valentino and his partner Giancarlo Giammetti sold the company for approximately US$300 million to HdP, an Italian conglomerate controlled, in part, by the late Gianni Agnelli, the head of Fiat.

Many models returned to attend Valentino's last haute couture show; the audience included Eva Herzigová, Naomi Campbell, Claudia Schiffer, Nadja Auermann, Karolína Kurková and Karen Mulder.

In June 2015 the Creative Directors were bestowed with the prestigious CFDA International Award, recognition that paid homage to the professional path and to the success of the Maison.

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-year career.

During the movie's production from June 2005 to July 2007, the filmmakers shot more than 250 hours of footage with exclusive, unprecedented access to Valentino and his entourage.

[117][118][119][120] Valentino and his associate Giancarlo Giammetti share homes and apartments around the world including the following: Valentino also spends half of his time in Giancarlo Giammetti's homes: Portions of the property date back to the 16th-century but it was in 1750, on the occasion of his marriage to Maria Antonietta Vagnoli, that the nobleman Sallustio Terrosi started building the villa.

The villa has a pool pavilion named "La Turkerie" standing in the middle of the garden was built by the Terrosi-Vagnoli family in 1837 in honor of a visiting pasha.

Part of this enlarged family called the "tribe" is also composed by Spanish Duchess Nati Abascal, French-Brazilian Princess Georgina Brandolini d'Adda and Valentino PR Daniela Giardina.

John Fairchild, editor-at-large at Women's Wear Daily and W, told Vanity Fair, Valentino and Giancarlo are the kings of high living.