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Valentino Garavani, the couturier who ruled glamour, bows out at 93
ROME: Rome did not wake up quietly on Monday. Valentino Garavani, the man who made elegance a discipline and glamour a calling, has died at 93, drawing the final line under haute couture’s most gilded chapter. In an industry addicted to reinvention, Valentino never chased change. He commanded it, in silk, satin and an unmistakable shade of red.
Born in Voghera in 1932, Valentino trained in Paris under Jean Dessès and Guy Laroche before returning to Italy to launch his fashion house in Rome in 1960. It was a deliberate homecoming. Paris taught him technique, but Rome gave him mythology. What followed was not merely a label but a worldview, rooted in discipline, drama and unapologetic beauty.
The house took flight after Valentino met Giancarlo Giammetti, then an architecture student. Their partnership became one of fashion’s most durable alliances. Valentino shaped the dream. Giammetti built the machine. Together, they turned an atelier on Via Condotti into a global luxury empire synonymous with Italian refinement and jet-set excess.
Valentino’s visual language was defiantly romantic. While fashion flirted with grunge, minimalism and irony, he doubled down on craftsmanship, bows, embroidery and gowns engineered to command rooms. At the centre of it all was Rosso Valentino, a vivid, operatic red that became his signature and a permanent fixture on runways and red carpets.
Yet restraint was also part of his arsenal. His 1968 White Collection, entirely devoid of colour, announced his mastery just as loudly. It also caught the attention of Jacqueline Kennedy, who commissioned Valentino to dress her for her wedding to Aristotle Onassis. The moment sealed his place as couturier to power and poise.
Valentino dressed not trends but women who shaped eras. Elizabeth Taylor, Audrey Hepburn, Sophia Loren, Marella Agnelli and Princess Margaret wore his creations as armour. Later generations followed. Julia Roberts’ black-and-white Valentino gown at the 2001 Oscars became a red-carpet benchmark. Anne Hathaway, Jennifer Lopez, Lady Gaga and Zendaya turned to the house when impact mattered.
The business grew alongside the myth. Valentino SpA expanded into ready-to-wear, accessories, footwear and fragrances, becoming a global luxury name. The company was sold in 1998 and later passed to Mayhoola for Investments, but Valentino remained creatively dominant until his retirement.
His final couture show in Paris in 2008 was staged as theatre. Models emerged one after another in identical red gowns before Valentino took his last bow. It was not nostalgia. It was control.
The fashion world paid tribute. Gucci said on X: “We at Gucci are deeply sorry to hear of the passing of Valentino Garavani, a pioneering couturier and an icon of Italian fashion.” Donatella Versace called him “a true maestro who will forever be remembered for his art.” Cindy Crawford described him as a “master of his craft,” Gwyneth Paltrow said his passing felt like “the end of an era,” Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni hailed him as “an undisputed master of style and elegance and eternal symbol of Italian haute couture,” and Maison Valentino posted: “His unique style and innate elegance will remain forever… His life was a beacon in the ceaseless pursuit of beauty, and guided by that same beauty, we will continue to honor his memory with our deepest devotion.” Ralph Lauren added: “We all knew him by his first name—Valentino, a romantic name he lived up to through the artfulness of the collections he designed and the passion for beauty that inspired him for so many decades… His memory will live on through the timeless beauty of the world he created.”
In an industry now driven by speed and spectacle, Valentino’s legacy feels almost subversive. He believed elegance could be permanent, beauty could be exacting and fashion could still aspire to grandeur.
The emperor has left the building. The red remains.
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Aman Gupta’s OFF/BEAT secures Rs 100 crore seed funding round
Bessemer backs new venture betting on AI and India’s digital shift
MUMBAI: Aman Gupta has raised Rs 100 crore in seed funding for his new venture OFF/BEAT, with Bessemer Venture Partners leading the round as it bets on a new wave of AI-led, consumer-first businesses in India.
The funding marks an early but significant push for OFF/BEAT, which is positioned to tap into a rapidly evolving market shaped by a digitally native generation and advances in artificial intelligence. The venture aims to build at the intersection of culture and technology, where brand identity and innovation increasingly go hand in hand.
Gupta, best known for co-founding boAt and scaling it into a Rs 3,000 crore-plus business, is now looking to apply those learnings to a new playbook. His focus this time is not just on building a consumer brand, but on leveraging AI and global networks to accelerate growth.
OFF/BEAT founder Aman Gupta said, “Having built from scratch before, I know what capital can do and what it cannot. This time, I was looking for partners with a global perspective who can help me leverage technology and AI, because that is where the future lies. Bessemer’s track record with companies like Anthropic, Shopify, Canva and LinkedIn says it all.”
The choice of investor reflects that ambition. Bessemer Venture Partners has backed global technology players such as Anthropic, Shopify, Canva and LinkedIn, bringing not just capital but strategic support and global reach.
Bessemer Venture Partners partner Anant Vidur Puri said, “We back founders who see around corners. Aman saw how a new India would come to think about aspiration, identity and quality, and built boAt as proof. He is now applying that same instinct to a market being reshaped by AI and by a generation with entirely new expectations.”
The investment comes at a time when India’s startup ecosystem is being reshaped by both consumer behaviour and technological disruption. Founders are increasingly expected to understand not just products, but the cultural shifts that drive adoption.
For OFF/BEAT, the journey is just beginning, but the signal is clear. In a market where attention is fleeting and expectations are rising, building something truly distinctive may be the only way to stay on beat.
